The Sertori Sisters’ Secret
by Paradox Tremors
Summary: What undisclosed knowledge are the Setori sisters trying to hide after revealing Kim’s tail? For nearly 9 months the two protected the secret from their father and friends. But with the appearance of a stranger, their secret is beginning to unravel...
1. Author’s Notes

Author's Notes

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**:) **I highly suggest you read **Kaattee's** H2O stories **Belonging**and **Full Moon Rising** to understand just who "Cora Reagan Dean" is and her importance to Lewis McCartney and the three original mermaids—Emma, Cleo, and Rikki.

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**A/N:** This story could not have happened without the kind, loving help, and patience of **Kaattee.** She helped me with writing, plot ideas, character development, and came through for me when I was in trouble with drawing sections of a chapter together. The character of "Cora Reagan Dean" is Kaattee's creation (not mine). She has graciously allowed me to borrow "Cora" for this story/crossover tale. "Cora" first appeared in Kaattee's stories (H2O Just add Water) titled **"Belonging"** and **"Full Moon Rising."**

**This story was originally named "Mako Island Paradox."** Four chapters were posted in July 2009 but were later deleted. I believe the rewrite has turned out to be of a much better quality and imaginative than first posted. All feedback/suggestions/or notes of corrections are most welcome, encouraged, and appreciated.

This couldn't have happened without the support and help from **Kaattee** who put up with my whining, pleas for help, doubts, and hysterics over this project, and stepped in to correct any and all of my mistakes—you're a true Angel my friend. I can never thank-you enough. Thank-you from the bottom of my heart, I appreciate you for believing enough to allow a stranger's request (that's me) to use "Cora" outside your own stories.

Thanks to "**musicmixinggirl10**" and "**kaylauer**" for helping me determine Kim's age in the first write of this story when it was "Mako Island Paradox."

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**The Sertori Sisters' Secret**

Authors: Kaattee/ParadoxTremors

This is an **"Alter-Reality"** type story that **deviates** from the original H2O Just Add Water Series, the original Land of the Lost Series, and Kaattee's world of H20 (just a touch here and there—some may or may not want to add this as a companion story to Kaattee's stories).

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**Synopsis:**

Six years into the future….

What undisclosed knowledge and fears are the Setori sisters trying to hide after revealing Kim's tail? For nearly nine months the two protected the secret from their father and friends. But with the appearance of a stranger, their secret is beginning to unravel….

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**The Chapters Summary:**

**Chapter 2: **(Cora Reagan Dean)

Cora Reagan Dean is haunted by disturbing nightmares. She tries to dismiss the odd dreams that have plagued her, thoughts of another time, an ancient city, monsters creeping through the night, and two youngsters desperately fighting for survival. She feels as if she is a part of their struggle and senses an incomprehensible feeling of being torn between two different times and worlds.

**Chapter 3:** (Heather Faith Dangerfield)

Heather Faith Dangerfield and Holly Marshall have escaped the "Land of the Lost" into Heather's alternate World. Believing they have eluded the manipulations and malevolence of the enclosed universe the two have settled into their new lives. But visions of the place and that of a dead girl have Heather wondering and believing that the ruins of the "Lost City" still exists today in their world and time.

**Chapter 4: **(Trouble Brewing)

Cleo, Emma, and Rikki have returned from Cleo's book signing event. Exhausted and tired Cleo leaves her friends to return home only to find Cora and Lewis planning a _date_ out on Mako Island during the night of a full moon.

**Chapter 5: **(Connection)

Heather and Holly agree to investigate Mako Island as Heather is drawn to believe that Cora, her friends, and Mako Island are somehow intertwined with the Land of the Lost and them_._

**Chapter 6: **(The Encounter)

Rikki reveals who she's seen at the airport and convince Emma to return to the terminal with her. Torn between who she knows she's seen and the burden of proof, Rikki gives chase after a stranger she recognizes. Emma comes upon the shocking scene catching Rikki standing with a fisted hand and the terrified stranger backed into a corner with a bloody nose.

**Chapter 7: **(Cora, Cora, Cora)

Holly and Heather prepare for their trip to Australia, but first a side trip is planned that might change history.

**Chapter 8: **(A Call, An attack, and Marriage)

Under the night of a full Moon, Cora has a vision of a future that terrifies her. An old enemy is rising back up bringing death and destruction into all their lives; while Cleo is afraid Cora has pieced together the true events that had occurred the night Kim received her tail.

**Chapter 9:** (Holly's Destiny)

Holly's abilities are beginning to be revealed but is her time running out?

**Chapter 10: **(Who is Rani Anamarie Marshall?)

Rani unexpectedly runs into Lewis McCartney and Cora Reagan Dean and finds herself in need of their help. Circumstances makes things impossible difficult for the three and they find themselves racing to escape the strange, otherworldly creatures Rani calls Demonhunters—the creatures are hunting Rani, wanting what she has recently discovered.

**Chapter 11: **(Mayko Island)

Dr. Elisha Denman, Heather Faith Dangerfield, and Holly Marshall come together and heads out to Mayko Island never suspecting the danger lying in wait for the two girls in the shallow waters off Mayko Island.

**Chapter 12:** (The Cemetery and the infamous Moon Pool)

Lewis, Cora, and Rani are chased by the Demonhunters onto Holy ground for their final confrontation. Deceit, trickery, and time are their only allies if they are to remain alive. While on Mayko Island a discovery is made that may change someone's life forever.

**Chapter 13: **(The Land of The Lost)

Holly and Heather ventures back to the birthplace of their curse, where the magical virus first metamorphosed them into mermaids. They stumble once again into the ruins of the Lost City and dabble with the glowing crystals coming face-to-face once more with the Sleestaks.

**Cast of Characters and Glossary of terms****:**

Ages are noted in "( )."

**Anstice:** (Eternal) According to Heather, he is one of the original fallen Angels casted out of Heaven for his part in the uprising against God. His desires for Noël Regan Dangerfield (in the future) have led him to clash with the Dangerfield and Winchester's families on numerous occasions.

**Zane Bennett: **(24) Locked away in an insane asylum because of psychiatric disorders brought on by Dr. Linda Denman's numerous (failed) attempts at killing Rikki Chadwick and the other mermaids (See Kaattee's stories, **Belonging** and **Full Moon Rising**, for full details). He is released shortly after his father's untimely death to run the Bennett's Business Empire.

**Rikki Chadwick: **(24) She is renowned locally for being an accomplished computer programmer (You'll understand as the story goes along).

**Eric Levi Dangerfield: **(22)Heather's boyfriend in the "other" world.

**Heather Faith Dangerfield:** (19) A visitor from another time/world--a character I created and have written about for the last five years or so.

**Noel Reagan Dangerfield:** (3 months old) Heather Faith and Eric Levi Dangerfield's daughter.

**Cora Reagan Dean: **(24) A transplanted Californian mermaid who has become the unofficial "Protector" of Rikki, Emma, Cleo, and Kim. She attends the local University (Biology/Genetics). She and Lewis McCartney have grown especially closer over time. She works part-time at the Sheppard's Inn.

**Demonhunter: **(immortal) Shapeshifter who are sent out from the various levels of Hell/the Outerworld to retrieve an item, object, or sometimes a person.

**Doctor Elisha Denman: **(35) The "Linda Denman" of Heather's World. She is a renowned Biology and Genetics expert. She delivered Eric and Heather Faith Dangerfield's child.

**Enik:** (?) One of the original Altrusian inhabitants from the Land of the Lost before it fell into disarray and ruins.

**Eric: **(?) He is a hired assistant.

**Emma Gilbert: **(24) Attending the local University (English Major). She has bought the Juicenet Café and part ownership in the Sheppard's Inn.

**Holly Marshall: **(19) She lost her family in _**The Land of the Lost**_. Both her father Rick and brother Will returned home via different time doorways leaving her behind with her new found friend Heather Dangerfield. The two escaped to Heather's World. Now she searches for the "doorway" that will take her back home to her family.

**Rani ****Anamarie**** Marshall: **(18-21) The individual encountered by Emma Gilbert and Rikki Chadwick in the airport; then later encountered by Lewis and Cora at the edge of town the following day. Lewis and Cora saved her from an attack and learned her real name was Holly Marshall.

**Lewis** **McCartney:** (24) Attending the local University (Biology/Genetics). He and Cora have grown especially closer over time.

**Nike:** (19) Heather Faith Dangerfield's nickname given to her by her closest friends.

**Max Thomas:** He was known as "Max Hamilton" in the Original H2O Just Add Water Series (even in an alter-reality names can be adjusted a little). Max was killed by Dr. Linda Denman with the use of cyanide in her attempt to destroy the mermaids (See Kaattee's story, **Full Moon Rising, **for full details). Lewis McCartney inherited his estate.

**Thomas "Tom" Porter: **(21) A transferred student from California.

**Cleo Sertori:** (24) She is a successful author of children's books about mermaids, the sea, and other related items.

**Don Sertori:** (-) The Setori sister's father. He is now semi-retired from the fishing industry. He is aware of the girls' tails.

**Kim** **Sertori: **(19) Cleo's younger sister who accidently found the moon pool and fell in on a full moon about a year ago after running away. Her sister found her and brought her home and taught her about the ways of being a mermaid. She spends most of her time between her dad's, mother's, Cleo's residences, and _friends_ as well as coping with being a mermaid.

**Sleestaks:** are large, green humanoids with both reptilian and insectoid features; they have scaly skin with frills around the neck, bulbous unblinking eyes, pincer-like hands, stubby tails, and a single blunt horn on top of the head, and bear a resemblance to the hypothetical "Dinosauroid". Sleestaks communicate with a hissing sound that rarely changes in characteristics. They move slowly in an upright and bipedal manner using crossbows, rope, nets, periscopes and other relatively advanced technologies.

**Stephen M. Winchester: **(21) Heather's cousin/but Heather considers him more of a brother.

**Doctor William Floyd Winchester:** (42) A Nobel-prize winning physicist; father of Stephen M. Winchester and step-father to Heather Faith Dangerfield. He works for the U.S. government in a clandestine capacity.

**Please Note****:) **Because of their unique gifts and adventures Cora, Lewis, and Emma could not finish their education in the time span most other people could.

**Places and Objects of Note:**

**Dead Crystals/Crystal Shards:** Blue quartz-like-crystal that have lost their charge/energy over time and were dumped into the "swimming hole" in The Land of the Lost. Any "crystal" removed from the water shrinks to half its original size and turns to a red/crimson color for reasons yet undetermined.

**Black Crystals:** Are rumored to be the "kryptonite" to any Psi or mermaids. The crystals unusual properties neutralize paranormal abilities; but are extremely rare. Only two are known to exist in the world--the gemstone set in the Natasha-Anamarie Choker is reportedly to be one of the two existing stones.

**Juicenet Café: **Favorite hangout of Emma, Rikki, Cora, Cleo, Kim, and Lewis.

Please Note: In the start of the 3rd Season of H2O Just add Water the place was closed down. Zane Bennett bought the place and shared ownership with Rikki. They renamed the place "Rikki's." These events **did not** occur in this story's timeline. Emma Gilbert bought the Juicenet Café and left the name alone as it was.

**Land of The Lost: **The place where Heather Faith Dangerfield met and became fast/good friends with Holly Marshall. They were both trapped in an alternate/enclosed universe inhabited by dinosaurs, a primate-type people called Pakuni, and aggressive humanoid/lizard creatures called Sleestak. They escaped back to Heather's world, leaving Holly cut off from her family who are still in the late 1970's.

**Lou Stone/Crystal:** a magical stone that can attach itself to a host and improve certain attributes of that person.

**Max's Wharf: **The name Cleo has given to the beachfront house shared by her, Emma, Rikki, Cleo, Kim, Lewis and Cora. The place was built on the estate of the late Max Thomas. The structure was specially designed and built at the edge of the water to meet the needs of the girls to leave in/out without being observed underwater.

**Mako Island: **Home of the "infamous" Moon Pool.

**Normals: **People not touched or altered by magic and have no distinguishable psychic powers.

**The ****Natasha-Anamarie Choker: **No information has been revealed about this item.

**The "Mageti":** It is a large crystal suspended in a pyramidal frame that has been described as a "divining rod" that can be used to locate and fix dimensional doorways, determining where and when they would open. The Mageti has a self-destruct mechanism that is triggered when its user experiences sufficiently strong hostile emotions; this is a safeguard to prevent it from falling into non-Altrusian hands.

**The Lost City:** An ancient city (Land of the Lost) that gave birth to the various Moon Pools around the world.

**The "Ring": **The device that Heather, Eric and Lila Dangerfield, Stephen M. Winchester, and Holly Marshall use to travel between alternate realities, time, and space.

**The Shard of Eternity: **A choker Heather Faith Dangerfield wears.

**The Slave bracelet of Eternity:** An intricate-designed bracelet worn by Heather Faith Dangerfield. Only the very "gifted" seems to notice this jewelry she wears on her hand and arm all the time. No other information is known about this item.

**Sanctuary: **The name that Cleo has given to Emma and Rikki's apartment.

**Tailspin: **Dr. Elisha Denman's state-of-the-art research vessel.

******Emma, Rikki, and Kim are not full-time residents of Max's Wharf.

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It is my hope this information helps you enjoy the story …..


	2. Cora Reagan Dean

**A/N:) **I hope you enjoy this read. I am striving to improve my writing with each word I put to paper. This story is a combination of ideas and thoughts tossed back and forth between Kaattee and myself.

Chapter updated and revised October 17, 2009.

**The Setori Sisters' Secret**

**Chapter 1:** It has the **Synopsis **of this story so far and a short bio about each character. The time for the story is 6 years after graduation from High School. Please keep in mind Kim Setori and Cora Reagan Dean are both mermaids in this tale.

**~~OOOOooo~o0o~**Chapter 1**~o0o~oooOOOO~~**

~~Cora Reagan Dean~~

**June 29th….**

Cora Reagan Dean sweated beneath the covers, a relentless warning, shadowed and ominous, skimmed her thoughts—until it dipped, sinking beneath the dark waters of a fitful sleep.

In the dream Cora was in the water. It was cold and dark. She was alone, in the grip of terror. She was aware she was near Mako Island, but she couldn't actually see the underwater landscape. No familiar marker to pinpoint where she was. The darkness was as deep as death. She knew something was rushing toward her through the gloom, something inconceivably hostile, immense, and deadly yet utterly silently. She knew it was coming. _Oh, dear, God_—yet had no idea of which direction its approach was coming. Left, right, under, above, or from behind, it was coming. She could feel it. Something of such colossal size closed on her so rapidly fast, fast, fast, there was nowhere to hide. Then she heard Cleo. She screamed. Pleading for help somewhere in the unrelenting blackness, Cleo called for her. She swam blindly, calling out to Cleo but she could not get a fix on her friend. She swam one way then another, but Cleo's frantic voice seemed always behind her. The unknown threat was closer, closer, Cleo cries came in a voice so frightened with terror that Cora began to weep in frustration at her inability to find her friend; _oh, dear Jesus, _and it was almost on top of her, the thing, whatever it was, was unstoppable as a fallen moon—and then there was absolute silence. Nothing moved.

She turned. No movement. No sound. She twisted again; nothing. "Cleo?"

_Please come out. I don't want to be alone. Not in this darkness…_

Something touched her shoulder. She smiled touching the hand that touched her.

"Cleo?" But the hand she touched felt cold and stiff. Her face fell into despair. She turned as the fear grew in her heart. The hand she held had no arm attached to it. Cora screamed as something appeared and took shape in the darkness. It was pure evil, sent up from the deepest, blackest part of Hell. It was coming. It wanted her. Its eyes burned with hatred. It opened its mouth and became a hideous misshapen shark rushing through the cold current toward her….

Cora screamed silently.

Terror propelled Cora out of the dream. She bolted straight up before falling back out of bed onto the floor tangled in the bed sheet. The sheer horror drenched her body in sweat causing her to change into her mermaid form. Her heart hammered so hard her tail quivered out of nervous fright.

The nightmare had been more vivid and unnerving than any she'd ever had. Her eyes caught the approach of dawn through the window and it filled her with absolute dread. Her shivering grew more violent. It was not the daylight that scared her but something the day was bringing with it; an unnamed threat. She could feel it reaching for her, seeking her, and she shuttered so violently that her teeth rattled. She curled up into a ball with tears held in her eyes.

"_Cleo_." She whispered desperately entrapped within her fears, barely aware that Lewis slept on undisturbed, unaware of her plight.

Gradually time passed, her heart stopped pounding so fearfully, the sweat disappeared and her legs came back. She moved, wrapping herself in the sheet to ward off the chill. She stood, looking at Lewis and smiled sadly.

_It's my fault, Lewis. My fault we can't have a child. The stupid curse that has made me a mermaid keeps us from having a child. _Cora knew she could not lie down, now. She wouldn't sleep after that dream. She turned and slipped out of the room and padded barefoot down the hallway and down the stairs to the fresh air outside.

She stood outside on the deck of the pool looking out across the ocean to Mako Island.

The ocean breeze swept back her hair. She stood there, filled with confusion. Tears dried in her eyes as a strange ache grew in her heart. Her hands were squeezed into tight fists. Her head throbbed from the tension of a bad headache.

She could not recall leaving the comfort of Lewis's arms during the night, but she was not surprised to find she had wandered. It had happened the night before as well.

Cora did not worry about her sudden somnambulism, but she was discomfited and somewhat embarrassed by it. And as a student taking a course in psychology, she was intrigued by these new night-time ramblings.

Nevertheless, her thoughts were more toward the upcoming weekend. Something about their trip to Mako Island made an uneasy, cold chill run down her spine. The closer the weekend came the more dread she felt about the trip.

_But everyone's looking forward to it. I can't ruin it for them. I can't suggest we don't go._

Someone touched her from behind. Cora jumped and turned around. Her legs felt unsteady as she stood there and for one humiliating second she wondered if she would pass out.

Lewis stood there facing her and let a tiny, simple smile appear on his boyish face.

"What?" Cora grew impatient.

"Let's go out to Mako tonight, just the two of us, nobody else." Lewis whispered.

"I-I …" Cora stuttered, her mind flashed back to the dream. Fright grew in her eyes. Lewis interrupted her thoughts.

"Just you and me, no one else, I promise. There'll be no Cleo, Emma, or Rikki. Just time to ourselves, we deserve it."

"Lewis—"

"Don't, please." Lewis didn't move and his eyes never left her face. "The girls are coming back from their trip this afternoon. It's our turn to go have a little fun and forget about all _our_ worries for once."

"What about the weekend?"

"We'll be back by Thursday."

"And then go back to Mako with the girls?"

"Yeah, what's wrong with that? We've never been out there alone and on our own."

"No, we haven't, but--"

"C'mon, Cora, please." Lewis touched her cheek. "I need to get out and be with you. I need to get away from everything for a night. No studying. No work, just the two of us alone on the island."

"Okay." She lowered her voice falling into his arms. "If that's what you want."

"It is."

She pulled back looking into his eyes.

"Something wrong, Cora?"

"No …." Cora pushed away, feeling the trembling beginning to come on, and turned away.

"Cora?" there was hurt in Lewis' voice. She glanced over her shoulder a moment before looking back across the ocean.

"It's important to you, Lewis. Isn't it." She said; it wasn't a question. She knew.

"I think we both need this, Cora." He responded. She smiled sadly and let her head droop onto his shoulder. He was right.

"All right." She sighed a moment, "You know, you scared the bejesus out of me when you snuck up on me."

"I didn't _sneak_."

"You did."

"What's the matter, Cora? Expecting someone other than me?" He kissed her on the backside of the head, wrapping his arms around her shoulders.

"No," was the cold, flat reply. She knew he felt her shaking.

"What's been waking and upsetting you these last couple of nights? Is there some kind of danger coming?"

"No, not like you're thinking; but there's _something_ … a place, maybe." Her voice quivered as she noticed the black sky was brightening to a deep gray-blue along the eastern horizon. Some distant part of her wanted to deny what she had seen in her vision. "I don't know - I've been having these really weird dreams lately."

She let Lewis pull her around until they were face to face, their eyes locking. She was too afraid to admit to Lewis just yet that these dreams were actually visions that she couldn't interpret.

"What kind of dreams?"

"Yeah, well this sounds stupid, but..."

"Cora!"

"Okay, okay, sorry. But it _will_ sound crazy."

"Try me."

Silence fell between them a few moments.

"In my dreams, it's been like I've entered another world - a violent world. It was hot and filled with monsters and an ancient city."

"…Monsters?"

"Told you it would sound crazy. And actually, I think they were dinosaurs ... and something else called Sleestaks that prowled the caverns of the ancient city." She tried to smile, but could not force one. She hated lying to Lewis and telling him that these "simple dreams" were actually visions.

Lewis frowned. "You've must have been dreaming about the 'Lost World'."

"Huh?"

"The marathon we watched a few nights back."

"Nah, I don't think it was that."

"Then what was it?"

"I think it was a dream about the Moon Pool at its infancy." She stopped a moment. "It was all so real. I saw people. There was one … no, two teens there in the pool and something about Enik." She paused biting at her nail. "There was also something called an Altrusian Lykánthropos Fish, I think."

"What in the world is an Altrusian Lykánthropos Fish?" Lewis eyes narrowed. "And who or what is an 'Enik'?" He asked. She started to respond and then stopped herself, realizing that she had no clue how to begin.

"I have no idea. But, I plan on finding out." She said, her smirk fading tiredly. She watched Lewis' face grow puzzled.

"Cora, what are you not telling me?" He asked. Cora closed her eyes, letting a single tear slip out and took a deep breath before speaking again.

"It's nothing, Lewis." She hugged him tightly. "Trouble might be heading our way … but I can't exactly distinguish what or who it is at the moment and that's why I'm frustrated." Cora took a deep, relaxing breath. "I can't even tell when it might start. It's like … the whole thing is going to drop right into our laps out of thin air ... and in all likelihood may involve Cleo and myself."

"You're not really making any sense."

"Believe me, sweetie, I know."

"So, what do we do?"

"There's nothing we can do but wait." She pulled back and broke from Lewis as she reopened her eyes. She turned around, walking over to the railing that surrounded the pool area. She looked out at the empty beach first to the left and then to the right. A seagull drifted over the roof of the house. Suddenly, Cora had the disquieting sensation she stood in two places at once and stumbled a little, gripping the railing to steady herself.

"Cora?" Lewis had walked over to her.

The back of her neck was suddenly cool and damp; Lewis words had drawn her back to reality. Her whole body ached all over. Strange memories were fading fast although she tried to hold on to them.

_W-what happened just now?_

The memories faded away with Lewis's touch. She clenched her eyes tightly shut and focused on the girl, on remembering the stranger's face she had seen between the beatings of her heart when she stood in both places at once. Focusing on that instead of trying to recall the entire incident made her say a name.

"Heather. Heather Faith …"

Cora opened her eyes and stared at Lewis. What happened had unsettled her.

"What? Who is Heather?"

Cora had to bite back the scream building in her throat. She blinked back the tears in her eyes before they could fall. A shudder wracked her body and then she sighed. The soft sound was broken by a strange little hiccup.

"Cora?"

"I need to take a shower … and have some tea." She pushed pass Lewis carefully, heading back into the house, "Then I need to do some research in the—" Lewis softly grabbed her arm and turned her back around to him.

"What's going on?" He stared hard at her. She smiled, troubled, and started to talk.

"Another ..." Frowning, Cora paused. Her train of thought had vanished. She could not recall what she had been about to say. Lewis looked at her, worry etched across his face. Everything had become eerily quiet and still, "I-I …" Instinct told her that something unusual had happened only moments ago just out of her sight, perceived sublimely. Her eyes darted around, surveying her surroundings. The air felt heavy and chilled. She shivered. Nothing _seemed_ out of place, and she began again, "I need to do some research." Now an ominous feeling overcame her, a keen sense of pending doom. It was that premonitory dread she had grown to hate, and now she knew something was wrong. She had not actually experienced anything like it in years; not since Dr. Denman had killed Max Thomas. The good doctor then tried to kill them all because of her obsession over capturing a mermaid.

Cora remembered the oppressive dread all too well. She was in its icy gripe again, though for no discernible reason. Lewis was okay. Emma, Cleo, and Rikki were out of town, but safe--she could feel it. They would be back later that very day. And Kim was being Kim; being mischievous somewhere out in the night, but safe. Nevertheless, Cora knew something was wrong or about to happen.

"Lewis?"

"Yeah?"

"Please… don't think I'm crazy. Maybe it's all in my mind, a figment of my imagination…" Her heart was racing, "…but I need to tell you something."

"Okay." There was no denying the thick worry that coated Lewis' voice.

"I don't think these have been dreams … _or_ visions." She sighed wearily. "I think I've been in two places at once. Like I'm another person, but still me. Living in two different bodies, experiencing two different lives."

"You're not making any sense, Cora."

"I don't know how else to explain it, Lewis." She looked at him and he could see definite sadness in her dark eyes, "I'm scared. I think I'm losing my mind."

"Don't ever say…" Lewis began, but then Cora could see he realized that she was being honest. He took her and held her tightly and sighed, "Whatever is going on, we'll figure it out. You're not going crazy. There's a logical explanation to all of this."

"But, Lewis, what if there's not? What if I _am_ going crazy?"

He held her tighter and said nothing.

**~~OOOOooo~o0o~**Chapter 1End**~o0o~oooOOOO~~**

Love to hear what everybody thinks.


	3. Heather Faith Dangerfield

**A/N:) **I hope you enjoy this read. This story is a combination of ideas and thoughts tossed back and forth between Kaattee and myself.

Chapter updated and revised October 17, 2009.

**The Setori Sisters' Secret**

**Chapter 1:** It has the **Synopsis **of this story so far and a short bio about each character. The time for the story is 6 years after graduation from High School. Please keep in mind Kim Setori and Cora Reagan Dean are both mermaids in this tale.

**~~OOOOooo~o0o~**Chapter 2**~o0o~oooOOOO~~**

Heather Faith Dangerfield

**The Present….**

Heather Faith Dangerfield woke. Her body ached all over. She'd fallen asleep at her desk again. It wasn't anything new. Although she was only nineteen years old, she already felt ancient, exhausted even upon awakening.

"God, I'm so tired." she groaned. "These all-nighters need to stop." Rubbing her eyes, she shut the computer down and stood. The dream had awakened her. She tried to hold together the fragmented pieces of the dream. But as always, it faded away. Only the stranger's face and a name stayed with her memory. She didn't know the face. But each night, for the past week, she found her all over again.

"What's happening? Why do I find ya in my dreams, Cora?" She shook her head and walked toward the bathroom. "I'm just going crazy."

"_Don't ever say…"_

She paused and looked around. The clock on the wall showed it to be 5:30 a.m. The voice she heard had been weak but audible. A chill spiraled down her spine.

_No. I'm not hearing voices, again._

But the "voice" sounded familiar, lovingly, as if he cared about her—Or rather, this "Cora." Heather had caught a faint, quick smell of who had spoken. He smelled so sweet, so warm, and alive. The scent of his body took her away from everything—for the briefest moment she could see him, as if she was looking over the shoulder of another woman.

She sighed. "Lewis?"

_He's nothing like Eric, but man, he'll do in a pinch._

She giggled for a second, mortified by her thought. She closed her eyes, pressing a hand to her forehead. Behind her eyelids, she saw an island with an inactive volcano_. Mako Island …_ a faint voice whispered in her mind. But like an afterimage, another world wavered just beyond the reach of her sight.

_The Land of the Lost … _that was a nightmare she wished she could forget.

"No, God." She shook her head. "Oh, dear God, no; it couldn't have survived to exist in my world. Not today, not possible." Heather whimpered in her throat staggering. The world shifted under her feet and she had to sit on the floor. She wrapped her arms around her knees and rested her chin there.

_I'm going out of my mind. The place existed in another dimension and time, not here in mine. God couldn't be so cruel as to let it exist here._

Tears pooled in her eyes as a wild laughter escaped her lips. She moved after a couple of minutes, standing. She drifted into the bathroom, walking up to the mirror above the sink. She leaned on the porcelain basin with her hands and drew up close to the mirror. Her eyes lifted a mere inch from the reflective surface—a slight sense of disappointment seemed to fill her, and then the tension drain out of her like water from a broken dam. Nothing but her reflection stared back. She smiled, but sighed bigheartedly and moved back from the reflection. Her eyes stayed on the mirror another second. She turned and went back into the other room.

_See, I'm not imagining things._

She glanced over to the empty crib and smile. Her Uncle Bill had the baby for the weekend. This was the first time she'd let Noël be away from home on her own and the first she was without her. Uncle Bill had assured her she was doing fine last night when she called. _I miss my baby._

Her gaze went back to the computer. She smiled and lifted her opened hand toward the unit. _I'm too tired to sleep._ She flicked her wrist slightly to the right sending a psychic command for the PC to turn itself back on and reboot from the start menu. It did.

Heather wrapped her arms around her body. She was suddenly freezing.

_I feel so damn cold... _She rubbed her hands up and down her arms. Chilled to the bone she took a blanket from the bed and wrapped in it. She then took one slow step after another back to her workstation and sat. Heather rifled through stacks of papers and scattered notes looking here and there, and all about her desk until she found an envelope. Her smile widened as she drew out the Blue-ray disc, it was marked "Holly Marshall and The Land of the Lost." Her hands shook as she put it in into the disk drive, watching as the computer screen came to life. She touched the keys and the flickering light of her screensaver disappeared. Her fingers danced across the keyboard as she typed in a few coded passwords. In a fraction of a second the information sprang up to life on her screen.

Heather lost her smile.

_Oh, no, not again_, she thought, fighting a familiar sensation. _I'm done with that._

Her mind wandered suddenly, wrapping a thread of her consciousness around, weaving, and intertwining into a scene flashing before her mind's eye. It watched imageries momentary flickering across her psyche like an old thirties film reel—four mermaids were swimming in the warm ocean going toward the island she had seen earlier in her mind. A school of sharks swam nearby, agitated.

"Watch the sharks, ladies," she half- muttered, afraid. She somehow understood the sharks were calming down from a feeding frenzy.

Silence filled the air for a minute. The girls didn't seem like the mermaids she had envisioned in the past week. Something was different and she worried.

Heather knew it was something minor. One of the mermaids was nervous and unsure of her movement—the smaller-framed one—_Cora?_ Though usually relaxed and easy-going, she was tensed. She moved stiffly as if her body was sore all over. She didn't smile as easy or as often as usual, and when she did, she seemed to be pretending.

_What's wrong, Cora?_ Heather was troubled. A nervous, foreboding sense of fear spilt through her.

"Be careful of the sharks." Heather smiled, then laughed uneasily, "Like she can really hear ya at all, Heather."

The sharks sensed the movement of the girls, perceiving them as a threat. One of the other mermaids—the other dark-haired one--stopped for a moment, looking around as if she had heard something, sensing the change in the animal's behavior. The sharks moved in on the girls for the attack…

"I really _have_ lost my mind…" Heather muttered in a dead, flat tone, shaking the vision from her mind before it became too violent to watch. She bent her head, noticing with a shudder the raised hair on her arm. Her hand moved covering the mouse, she clicked to open a file; then went from the first to the next file, searching; _No, don't think about it. It's not your problem._

The day slipped away from her. She buried herself in her research.

The alarm clock went off bringing Heather out of a daze. She reached over from her chair and smacked the top of the radio-clock that sat by the bed—the machine went quiet; it read 3:16 p.m.

"Damn, I got Spanish in another hour. I hate that class, it's boring." Her hand slipped over and picked up the receiver of the cordless—she hesitated a moment before dialing a number.

_She'll answer. She has too. This is too important. If I'm right … she'll want in. _A few seconds passed, and then the ringing on the other end could be heard.

"C'mon Holly, answer the bloody phone." The ringing kept up. "Why have the phone if you won't answer." She rolled her eyes. "What happened to the 'I'll be there when ya need me, Heather!' spill? C'mon already."

The answer machine picked-up: _"Hi, this is Holly Marshall. I'm not at home at the moment, but if you leave your number and name, I will get back to you as soon as possible."_

Heather hung up and threw the cordless on the bed.

"God, forget her." She turned back to the keyboard. Her fingers typed in two names—Cora and Lewis--possible places of interests—Mako Island—she then hit entered, hoping she could find some detail-any tiny piece of information about the two, or maybe Mako Island so she could pinpoint the time and place she was "seeing".

"_I have pancakes and some of that country syrup you found at the Farmer's Market."_

Then silence fell and she heard him, like he was whispering in her ear, from over her shoulder. _"Sausage is fine." _

Heather snorted and jumped up out of her chair so fast it toppled over.

"Okay, already. Enough, I can hear ya Lewis." She looked around embarrassed. "Great, I'm answering the 'voices' now." She turned and set the chair back up right, realizing then she was wavering. Her knees were weak and shaky, as though she'd just run a country mile in record time. Pressing a hand to her temple, she laughed shakily, sinking back into the chair. "I've got to find out the reasons for my dizziness when I stand or move suddenly. It's not normal. And it's happening too often of late to keep ignoring."

The computer beeped, letting her know it had finished its search. She dropped her hand, leaned forward, and hit a key on the computer.

All expression left her stunned face. Colored drained from her. Heather found her eyes locked with two pictures from a newspaper article. They had flashed up and stared back at her. One of the images was of the girl she had been seeing in her dreams. There was a short bio of Cora and another girl, but the only words her mind could comprehend at that moment was the last sentence—"July 3rd; Ms Cora Reagan Dean and Ms Cleo Setori died of a shark attack off the shores of Mako Island…."

**~~OOOOooo~o0o~**Chapter 2End**~o0o~oooOOOO~~**

Any comments or thoughts are most welcome my friends. I have to thank Kaattee, again, for helping me out on this chapter and for correcting all my mistakes. Kaattee is the true "Cora," always giving of her time to others.


	4. Trouble Brewing

**The Setori Sisters' Secret**

**Chapter 1:** It has the **Synopsis **of this story so far and a short bio about each character. The time for the story is 6 years after graduation from High School. Please keep in mind Kim Setori and Cora Reagan Dean are both mermaids in this tale.

**~~OOOOooo~o0o~**Chapter 3**~o0o~oooOOOO~~**

~~Trouble Brewing~~

**June 29th ….**

Cleo Setori walked swiftly toward the front of the airport terminal desperate to get into the fresh air. The air turbulence the plane had hit just before landing had unnerved her. She felt frazzled and her two companions weren't helping her disposition any, either.

"Cleo, slow up, will you?" Emma called out, "Are you sure you're feeling well enough to drive back to Max's Wharf?"

"Yeah, after all, what's the rush?" Rikki laughed.

_Act normal._

"I'm fine, really. The turbulence up there just unnerved me for a few moments." She lied, pretending to laugh. "I didn't expect it to have been so rough."

"You're sure?" She could tell Rikki was pretending to act concerned. Rikki walked as much in a hurry to get away from the crowded terminal as she was.

"Yeah, I'm sure." Cleo gave Rikki one of those comradely grins and her face twitched in responsive amusement.

They walked on.

A couple of minutes later, they exited the terminal and walked into the bright sunshine. Cleo set her bags down, shielding her eyes with her hand for a quick moment to catch her bearings—it was then that Emma noticed that Rikki was missing.

"Rikki?"

Cleo turned around and sighed a bit. _Now, what? _

"Where did she go?"

"She was right here a minute ago." Emma replied, flustered.

Rikki hurried to them and made a causal gesture that invited her and Emma to continue on ahead. Cleo smiled and turned, but kept an eye on Rikki. She noticed her friend kept looking back over her shoulder.

"Rikki?" Cleo looked hesitant.

"I thought I saw someone we knew… but I guess it wasn't; it couldn't have been."

"_Tell_ me it wasn't Zane." Emma groaned. Rikki shot Emma an angry 'drop-dead' look.

"No. It wasn't. I'm over him. Period. End of story."

A sullen frown replaced Emma's grin.

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to touch a sore spot. Anyhow, Cleo – are you sure you're feeling all right?"

"Yes, I'm really fine, guys." Another lie. She was happy being back out in the warm June day. "I just want to get back and take a long nap."

"All right. Well, take care. We'll see you on Friday."

"Right. Friday." Cleo nodded.

"'Bye, Cleo."

"Goodbye, Em … Rikki." Cleo gave what she hoped was a bright happy-go-lucky smile as they parted company. She twisted around; yanking the door of her yellow beetle opened and tossed her bags into the back seat, slipping in behind the wheel.

She was bothered by the look on Rikki's face. _Something in the airport bothered her. I've known her too long not to recognize that look._ She closed the door putting her hands on the steering wheel

Cleo tightened her grip. _Something rattled Rikki; and it wasn't Zane, but something bigger._

_God, they can be so… so… irritating at times. Why the million-and-one questions about the night Kim got her tail? That's been, what, nine, nine-an-a half months ago? Why start with the questions again?_ She thought as she turned the key in the ignition. She looked in the rearview mirror. Emma and Rikki had already gotten into Rikki's jeep and pulled out. She waved to them as they passed by—noticing they were having a heated debate over something. _Whatever possessed me to ask them along to the book-signing event I'll never know. It was nothing but questions, questions, questions through the entire trip!_

Cleo breathed a sigh of relief as they drove away. She put on her dark glasses.

_I wonder if Kimmie has been talking about it. She did promise not to tell more than what we agreed upon. Em, Rikki, Cora … and Lewis would all be furious to find out what really happened—_ She growled in frustration, _Please, Kimmie, don't be saying the wrong things. It would be too difficult to explain away our lies now._

Cleo backed out from the parking space and put the car into drive. She steered her way out of the busy terminal and onto the highway, noticing Rikki and Emma had stopped at the nearby Jiffy Mart—Cleo blew the horn and waved as she passed. _They're still arguing._ She shook her head. _I'll hear about it by tomorrow I'm sure. _She headed back to the outer edge of town where Max Thomas's old home used to stand.

_It'll be good to get back home._ She hit the accelerator.

Twenty minutes later, Cora left her car parked in the driveway. She paused a second, hesitate, looking at the two bags she'd left in the backseat—_I'll get them tomorrow; _she giggled_, _turned, and jogged up the steps to the door. Her key fit perfectly into the lock—a few seconds later, she was inside shutting and locking the door behind her. She hung the keys up beneath the foyers' framed mirror. Then she stopped. She heard Lewis humming happily in the kitchen. She groaned; _couldn't the lovebirds have gone out?_

Cleo managed a rueful smile.

_Got to make my appearance and then excuse myself. Maybe there's time for a quick swim before the full Moon rises…_

She hurried through the living room and passed the dining table until she stood at the breakfast bar. Lewis was crouched down looking beneath the sink.

"What you're looking for?"

"The picnic basket." He shot her a quick glance.

"It's in the closet by the refrigerator."

"Thanks." Lewis stood, shutting the cabinet doors. "I appreciate the help."

"You're most welcome." Cleo smiled, picking up an apple out of the fruit bowl. "What are you planning?"

Lewis pulled his nose out of the broom closet and his smile grew wider.

"Cora and I are going to the Moon Pool tonight for a midnight swim."

"NO!" Cleo screamed, throwing the fruit down hard. Lewis looked at her with puzzlement at her sudden outburst.

"Cleo?"

"Don't you remember what's tonight?"

"No, not really, but by your reaction, I think you're going to tell me anyway." He replied, blinking at her. Anger simmered in her eyes.

"Well, all I can say is that you're crazy. Cora knows it's a full moon tonight." Cleo rubbed a hand over her face. Her stare froze Lewis to his spot in the kitchen. "That's why we came home _today_ instead of _tomorrow_." She paused a moment. "Please, tell me you two aren't going to Mako tonight." She couldn't believe what he had told her a few moments ago. She gaped at Lewis with shock.

"Cleo—"

"No, Lewis." She sat on a stool by the countertop. "You and Cora are not going to Mako. There's a full moon out tonight, are you both crazy?"

"But Cleo—" Lewis started again but Cleo quickly cut him off.

"Don't, Lewis." Her eyes hardened. "She has to stay inside like the rest of us."

"Cleo, I didn't--" He began, but she cut him short again.

"I can't believe that you--_you_ of all people—would push her to agree to this."

Complete silence filled the room.

"Cleo, hear me out." Lewis finally half-screamed in frustration. She crossed her arms and eyed him.

"Go ahead, I'm listening ... and this better be good." She raised her eyebrows and stared at him, waiting. He sighed.

"Cleo… something's been bothering Cora. She won't open up about it; well, she has, at least about some of it but I know there's more. I'm concerned about her. That's why I suggested Mako tonight. I didn't think about it being a full moon out. It's just… the water relaxes her, especially the Moon Pool. If you had seen her face this morning by the pool…"

"And?"

"Guys, what's with the arguing?" Cora walked in, stopping a few steps away from them. Worry and fright etched deeply across her face. Cleo caught Cora as she noticed the ruined apple on the countertop. _Uh, oh, trouble._

Cora's eyes darted from Lewis to Cleo and back.

"I could feel you arguing all the way down the hall."

Cleo cut her eyes to where her friend stood. She could tell Cora could feel the strain in the room. Cleo recognized that her anger was probably causing Cora a few ill twinges in the stomach, but she couldn't help her emotions.

"I can't believe you agreed with Lewis and his crazy notion of going out to Mako Island tonight on a date. What were you thinking?"

Cora took a startle step back with surprise written across her face.

"I-I..."

Cleo flashed Lewis a quick glance before looking back at her friend.

"It's going to be a full moon tonight! Did you forget?"

"What?!" The color drained from Cora's face. "I-I… Wow. I guess I sorta forgot. Big failure on my part…" She grumbled in disbelief of herself.

"You can't _forget_ something like that, Cora!"

"I know." Cora bowed her head a bit. Her hands clenched the papers she held into a tight wad, "I'm sorry, okay?" Cleo remained silent. Cora looked to Lewis, "She's right, let's put it off until another night."

Cleo caught the nervous glance Lewis gave Cora. _Is that disappointment in his eyes?_

"Right, okay."He looked to Cleo. "Sorry, I must not have been thinking clearly."

"A date at Mako isn't such a bad idea; but not tonight. Let's not do it on the night of a full moon. You know how it affects me." Cleo thought the smile Cora then gave Lewis was forced.

"What are you researching?" Cleo made her best attempt to change the subject. _Something's definitely not right here…_

"Just a name, it's been stuck in my head lately."

"It wouldn't happen to be 'Lewis,' would it?" Cleo smirked. Cora's face flushed crimson. Her eyes darted a moment back to Lewis. "No; actually the name I've been researching is 'Heather Faith'—"

"--Dangerfield?" Cleo blurted out, then swallowed uneasily.

"Cleo? Are you alright? You look like you've just seen a ghost?" Cora's hand touched Cleo's on the counter. Cleo stumbled back a step and took her hand away from Cora's. She felt the anger and the astonishment slipping away already from the touch.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just the start of a headache, that's all." The lie came easily. "You know I often get them when I forget to eat breakfast."

She watched Cora nod her head. _She doesn't believe me. She knows something's going on. Her touch… _Blood pounded through her head leaving her giddy for a few moments. She fought to control the panic. The air in the kitchen was suffocating. Her throat felt tight. In those long, drawn-out seconds she heard Cora talking but did not grasp what she was saying.

Cleo squeezed her eyes shut, feeling Cora's touch. She fought for every breath as familiar images flashed back through her mind.

"The youngest is dying." The forgotten voice rattled through her memories. Her mind saw the anthropomorphic reptilian creature holding a jewel on each side of Kim's head. Her sister did not move.

"Wake up, Kimmie!" Her pleas echoed in her mind. "Please, please save my sister." Her eyes locked on the humanoid-lizard's sauce sized eyes of unblinking darkness. "She can't die. She's too young."

"I cannot interfere in the lives of others." Cleo remembered the dread that had settled into her chest that night when Enik spoke those words. But then she had heard another voice, an unfamiliar one.

"I can."

Cleo had looked up and seen the face of a girl; a face that held a distinct concern – a look of concern that Cleo knew she had seen before…

She opened her eyes and was met with Cora, who wore the identical look on her face. Cleo froze in her spot – now she knew where she had seen that look before.

"Uh, guys? I think I'll head upstairs. I'm kind of tired after the flight." She said, and without another word she turned and bolted.

************************

"Lewis…?" Cora turned to Lewis. "Did I say … or do something wrong?"

Lewis looked just as surprised as she felt.

"No, I don't think that's it."

"I don't understand." Cora complained.

"I think that maybe, just maybe, Cleo has given you your 'Heather's' last name."

"Huh?" She shook her head. "I still don't—"

"--Dangerfield." He smiled wearily. "I think the name you should be researching is 'Heather Faith Dangerfield,' if I don't miss my guess."

"But how would she know?"

"I just don't know, but I need for you to tell me something." He walked over to her, smoothing her hair, vaguely smelling coconut shampoo.

"What?" her voice came out barely a whisper, refusing to meet his eyes.

"Come on, Cora." He tugged lightly on a strand of hair. "You've got to tell me everything about the dreams. There's something you're still not telling me."

**~~OOOOooo~o0o~**Chapter 3 end**~o0o~oooOOOO~~**

Another chapter completed and in the book. Who could Rikki have seen in the airport that would've shaken her up? What were Rikki and Emma arguing about? And what was that strange memory Cleo was recalling? I love reviews. Thanks so much for reading. And God bless ya all.


	5. Connection

**The Setori Sisters' Secret**

**Chapter 1:** It has the **Synopsis **of this story so far and a short bio about each character. The time for the story is 6 years after graduation from High School.

**~~OOOOooo~o0o**Chapter 4**o0o~oooOOOO~~**

**~~Connection~~**

**The present ….**

Heather felt sick. She had read more articles about Mako Island. She tapped a finger on the desk and sank back in the armchair.

'_It makes no sense. The brutality of the sharks attack in the area had increased a hundred fold in the prior months. They should've been aware of the danger.'_

She didn't want to look at any more newspaper articles. She leaned back up and hit the key for the next page, finding the obituary of the two girls. Heather didn't want to see or read it either. She didn't want to believe what she had read from the other articles—but their pictures stared back at her. And she had to force herself to read the beginning of the obituary.

"**AUSTRALIA**—Joint service for Cora Reagan Dean and Cleo Setori was held July 5, 2009, together, at the chapel A.M.E. Zion Church with Rev. Samuel Duff officiating. Interment followed in the church cemetery."

"Why swim into danger? What was wrong with Cora and the others?" Heather asked. But she didn't expect an answer. She had no desire to hear their muffled voices again. She stood up and walked away from the computer. "I'm a year too late." She couldn't read the rest of the piece. "Your entire life written out in just four, short paragraphs … don't seem right." She fought to keep herself from crying. Her eyes wandered around the bedroom for the familiar comfort it always offered.

It wasn't there. She picked the phone up off the bed. _Who was she? Who was Cora Reagan Dean_ _really?_ The words echoed in her head. She brought up her hands and rubbed at her eyes.

"Oh damn," Heather whispered. She halted. '_No. Not again. Not now.' _Dread settled into her. She could feel the jitters coming on. '_No.'_ Her legs carried her out of the room and into the second floor hallway as far as the top step of the stairway. The shakes started to creep in. Heather stood there, her arms wrapped around her tightly. "Jesus, does it have to feel like this _all_ the time?" She turned and took a deep breath, looking back toward her room, "Why would I dream about a dead girl, anyway? I don't have any connection to her other than the 'mer' thing." She smiled a bit trying to erase the sadness from her heart. She sat on the top step. "No, the island too… that's the other connection, there can't be anything else."

She put a finger to her temple in an instinctive gesture, squeezing her eyes closed, bracing herself against the icy vision tearing through her mind. She saw Cora's dead, lifeless body on the shore of the island. Lewis held her tenderly, sobbing; another girl knelt beside him crying. The body of the other girl was lost to them; nevertheless the third girl was still out in the water looking for Cleo.

'_It doesn't make any sense for them to have swum into such danger…'_

"Heather?" She lifted her head and stared at Holly stupidly. The friend had touched her shoulder lightly.

"Oh, I didn't hear ya come in."

"Apparent." Holly sat next to her. "What's wrong? Are you alright?" Holly asked. Heather gave Holly a shaky smile. It was relatively easy to smile at her. She'd become a great friend since their adventures and escape from the "Land of the Lost."

"Yes, I'm fine." She did a little on-the-spot deep breathing, trying to calm her nerves.

"What's going on?" Holly was looking seriously concerned now.

"I-I think …I think I might've found the 'Lost City'. It does exist in our world."

Holly stood, shaking her head. She stumbled back up against the wall.

"If this is a joke, it's not very funny."

"It's not." Heather said grimly. "I wish it was, but it's not."

Holly watched her intently for a few seconds, and then frowned. She did not look surprised, just mildly put out.

"I-I guess then we have to investigate ... wherever it is you found it."Holly stammered finally. Heather nodded.

"At the moment, I believe it's at a place called 'Mako Island' just off the Australian Gold Coast. I do not have an exact location."

"That won't be hard to figure out."

"No, it won't. And I think it would be wise for us to contact Dr Denman. She knows the area well and the local lore of the place." Heather smiled a bit, but Holly raised an eyebrow as her friend spoke.

"I finally get to meet this Genetics expert, then?"

"Yeah," Heather's smile dropped away. "She helped delivered Noël, y'know … and she needs to do that long overdue physical on you. She's intrigued to meet my mermaid cohort."

Holly laughed nervously.

"That part scares me."

"Why? She keeps everything private. No outsiders."

"I don't know … but the thought just scares me." Holly shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "Have you ever wondered what it would be like if the _good_ doctor decided she wanted to keep us as an exhibit or for some scientific experiment? To what extent would she go to keep and study us?" She questioned. Heather stood.

"That's nonsense. She would never betray—"

"Maybe not _you_ … but it's difficult for me to trust people in this century," Holly's voice fell to a whisper. "Especially since our transformation. I wonder if we weren't the first; the module for all succeeding mermaids." Heather caught Holly's hand trembling.

"Holly … if it scares you that much to be alone with her, I can be there with you."

Holly broke into her familiar, reassuring smile.

"If you can trust her, then I should be able to, right?"

"Holly."

"Okay, so I can't lie as well as you just yet."

Heather frowned. '_Have I really gotten that good at lying? It's not the real me.'_ She stood and backed against the railing of the stairs.

"Well, that's what you do when you step through the 'ring'." Holly whispered shyly.

"We can't tell the entire truth when we step into another time or place. Think of how crazy we would sound if we did … and think of what might happen if we reveal too much of the possible future to any 'one' person."

"I know, but still, the lying bothers me." Holly replied with an almost inaudible sigh.

"It did me too, in the beginning."

"Yeah, it shows."

"Now, that hurts." Heather laughed, stepping over and giving Holly a tight hug. "It's going to be okay. Dr Denman is a fine person. She couldn't hurt a fly if she wanted to."

"Yeah, I hope you're right." Holly pulled back trying to put her brightest smile forward. Heather laughed at her pitiful attempt.

"Give it up, girl; you can't even lie with your face."

"You think--" Holly started to speak and then stopped herself. Heather recognized the hope in her voice.

"If there's a way, and we can find Enik's inner chamber intact, we'll do what we can to open the doorway and return you to where you belong." Holly's face brightened at Heather's words, "But, don't get your hopes up." Heather grimly said. "The chances aren't good. I don't mean to rain on your parade, but it's been millions of years since we last set foot into the Lost City. Anything could've changed."

"But it _could_ still be there, working."

"Yeah, it could. Anything's possible when it comes to the Land of the Lost, I guess."

"Then I could go home; be with dad and Will."

Heather nodded. She walked over to the window at the end of the hallway and peered anxiously out into the darkness.

"Yeah, ya could. The possibility is there." There was a new moon above the lake, and she watched the silvery streak that spread over the rippling waters, and the surf shinning a bright bluish glow. "Did ya know the New Moon is a symbol for new birth, a new beginning?"

What?"

Heather shook her and laughed quietly.

"Nothing, just thinking out loud; don't pay me any mind." The urge of playing in the water in her mer-form with Eric pulled at her heart. '_He's not here; I can't.'_

"Okay …" Concern reverberated in Holly's voice.

"What time is—" Heather started to ask Holly a question but stopped when she saw movement outside. She wasn't sure it was there for a second because when she shifted her eyes to the place where she thought she'd seen it, it disappeared. She shifted her gaze slightly and she saw it again. Heather closed her eyes for a moment waiting for them to get use to the darkness and then opened them again. A tingling sensation slipped into her chest.

"…_just the two of us, nobody else_."

Heather heard the psychic whisper as easily in her mind as if it had been spoken out loud—she blushed, feeling a rush of warmth come to her heart.

"_Just you and me, no one else, I promise. There'll be no Cleo, Emma, or Rikki. Just time to ourselves, we deserve it."_

"_Lewis—"_

The affection left her heart and she understood what it was she was feeling. '_They were so happy.' _Her heart beat faster and she felt the cold knot of fear left over from her earlier visions begin to harden in her abdomen.

Cora and her friends, Mako Island … were somehow intertwined with the Land of the Lost_._ The cold, foreboding thought touched Heather's mind.

'_And if they are, then they're connected to us somehow.'_

**~~OOOOooo~o0o**Chapter 4 End**o0o~oooOOOO~~**

****************************

Okay, thoughts, comments, or suggestions anyone? **Kaattee** is still my Angel. She keeps me on the straight and narrow, and helps me make this a better story; without her and "Cora" this story never could have been.

Thank-God for friends like "Kaattee."


	6. The Encounter

**The Setori Sisters' Secret**

Authors: Kaattee/ParadoxTremors

******************************

**Chapter 1:** It has the **Synopsis **of this story so far and a short bio about each character.

******************************

**Chapter 5: **(The Encounter)

**June 29th….**

"Dr. Denman is dead." It was no more than a frightened whisper. Emma was standing on the passage side of the stopped jeep facing Rikki who stood on the driver's side. The effect of the words was as startling as if Emma had shouted them. For once, Rikki ignored her. Her blue eyes, oddly pale and bright, showed a shifting mixture of doubt and fear. Her mouth opened as if a thousand questions trembled on her lips, but she only asked one.

"Can we really be sure?"

"Rikki, calm down, please. You couldn't have seen Dr. Denman. It's impossible." Rikki detected the repressed annoyance in her voice. She hesitated.

"Em, I have to go back. I need to be sure."

Emma shook her head.

"You're scared, aren't you? You really believe you saw her in the airport."

Rikki eased back into the driver seat and restarted the vehicle. She turned toward her friend, biting at her lower lip.

"Em?"

"Yeah, alright, let's be sure." Emma got in and buckled up. She tried to smile. "Buckle-up, will you?"

Rikki laughed. She pulled back into traffic, heading back to the airport in a hurry.

"Thanks."

Emma looked at her, smiled in acknowledgement, and then turned looking back out at the traffic in front of them. It did not take long to return to the terminal, park, and run back inside. They stood just inside the entrance.

"Where do we start? Emma asked. Rikki closed her eyes a moment, then she shouted which took Emma by surprise. Her hand reached out grabbing a startled teen.

"You! You're the one--" She stopped speaking so suddenly that the last word ended in a gasp of expelled breath, and her grip tightened accidently like a tourniquet. The girl yelled out, and their eyes met. Rikki released the adolescent at once. A force pushed against her. She stepped back - a quick, involuntary movement, falling back into Emma—they both toppled to the floor. Emma stared at Rikki.

"What's the matter?"

"It's _her_!"

"Who?"

"The girl I saw with Dr. Denman!" She moved quickly and rather clumsily, shouldering her way through the crowd of people, not looking back. "I'm going after her." Rikki followed the girl into the bathroom, catching the door as it swung back on her but she paused once inside, surprised. The girl stood over by the far sink with a wad of paper towels held to her nose. In the basin were drops of blood. Her left hand held a drink. "Oh, hey, are you alright?" There was no reply. Rikki walked closer toward the stranger. "Are you hurt?" The outsider turned to her, backing away before Rikki could touch her. Rikki could see worry reflecting in the girl's eyes. The teen stared at her hand before looking up. Rikki decided to try one more time. "Uh, hi… May I speak with you?" The youngster's dour expression brightened momentarily as she greeted Rikki with a nod, placing her soda on the small shelf above the sink. Her eyes darted around apprehensively, keeping her distance.

"Do I, uh, know you, Ms …?" The teen pulled the towel from her nose, discarding the blood-stained material into the trash can by her side.

"Chadwick - and no, you don't know me." Rikki's replied. She sensed the nervousness of the teenager, "What's your name?"

"Rani, Rani Marsh—" The girl narrowed her eyes and looked up, realizing she was about to answer Rikki's question. Fright deepened in her eyes. Rikki backed up a step, thinking fast.

"Easy, I'm not here to hurt you." She could see the doubt in the young girl's eyes. "I-I thought … you were someone I knew, a Dr. Denman. Linda Denman."

"I don't know a Dr _Linda_ Denman."

Rikki could tell by the girl's eyes she wasn't being totally honest.

"No, no, I mean her daughter." Rikki lied quickly. "I-I … lost touch with her; and when you walked by, I thought you were her. That's why I grabbed your arm."

"Do you grab _all_ of your 'friends' like that?"

"Well…No."

"Okay… Then why chase me?"

"To apologize, to say I'm sorry." Rikki forced an apologetic look onto her face before pressing forward, "Are you _sure_ you don't know Dr. Denman?"

"I've already told you, I don't." Rani's face contorted uneasily into dread.

"You look sort of green around the gills," Rikki remarked cautiously, "like you do know her."

The words made no impression at first; then Rikki could see it dawned on Rani what she'd meant.

"Excuse me? What are you implying?" The girl's eyes darted passed Rikki to some spot behind her.

Rikki jumped, clenching a fist. She heard the door abruptly locking behind her. _Was this_ a _trap?! _She glanced over her shoulders a moment, feeling edgy. It was evident the lock had turned, but no one stood there. The door moved a fraction of an inch and Rikki eyes widened.

'_What the…?'_ Then it stopped moving. There was barely a perceptible pause before unseen hands suddenly rattled the door, the sound resounding through the small room with the intensity of drums.

"Rikki? Rikki, are you in there? Why's this door locked?!" She heard Emma call, muffled from the other side of the door. She bit her lip, unwilling to answer her friend. Her eyes turned soft and she looked at the young stranger.

"Look, I mean no trouble. I just have some questions."

The door unlocked and Emma fell through stumbling, looking surprised as she straightened herself. Rikki could see Emma's eyes widening as she took in the scene. Rikki was caught with her right hand fisted and Rani looking terrified, standing backed in the corner with blood smeared across her face.

"Oh shit, Em… this isn't what it looks like!" She stammered to Emma before bringing her gaze back to the stranger, "Hey, I'm not here to scare you. I just wanted some answers." Rikki lips relaxed into an unwilling smile, "I need to know if …"Rikki trailed off and watched as Rani ran to the door, pausing a second after she had opened it. She leaned into it with her head turned toward them. Rani swallowed nervously, trying to blink back the tears in her eyes.

"Look - I'm not the villain, here. I'm not here to hurt anyone. I promise. I can't make either of you believe what you refuse to see. I'm only here to help a friend find a place and maybe save someone's life." She paused wearily closing her eyes a couple of seconds, "And maybe with a little luck I can find my way back home to my family where I belong." Rani pulled back from the door and opened her eyes. The troubled tears still held there in her eyes. "Please, I can't tell you anymore." She hesitated before adding, "Don't follow me."There was a tone in her voice that warned them not to pursue her anymore.

She turned away and disappeared back into the crowded airport. Emma turned to Rikki as the bathroom door closed.

"What was that all about?"

~~OOOOooo~o0o~**End of ****Chapter 5**~o0o~oooOOOO~~

Hope you enjoyed this read. Who is this "Rani" Rikki had chase into the bathroom? And what did Rani mean by her last words before stepping back out into the crowd? Is there some kind of connection between Rani and the "Dr Denman" Rikki had seen?

Love reviews. Love to know what you think of the story and how's it going? Any comments, suggestions, or thoughts are most welcomed.


	7. Cora, Cora, Cora

**The Setori Sisters' Secret**

Authors: Kaattee/ParadoxTremors

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**Chapter 1:** It has the short **Synopsis **of this chapter and a short bio about each character.

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**Chapter 6: **(Cora, Cora, Cora)

**Present day ….**

"Yeah, that's everything," Heather's smile failed to stretch across her face as she hung up the phone. She stood, shaking her head. Her ears rung, the joints in her body ached fiercely and she hadn't been able to sit still for the last couple of hours much less sleep, so she came into the study to work. She completed the report on the mysterious mermaid Cora, and then took the time to make the necessary arrangements for their trip to Australia.

'_Feels like my mind is about to explode…'_ she thought as she picked up the keys to the Blazer and turned away from the desk. Then Heather stopped. Her hand reached out and touched the writing desk. Sudden dizziness took her and the ache in her head roared to full life. '_Damn, just what I need.' _Her vision swam and she leaned forward, hands braced against her knees, gasping for breath. Slowly the headache eased and she breathed through the dizziness.

"Are you okay?" Heather felt the cold hand touching her.

"What?" She stood up looking into the dead girl's face, "I'm fine, Cora." She moved back to the desk's chair and sat down, looking up at the girl, "I would offer you a seat, but—"

"—Yeah, I know. I'm dead, it's a real bummer." A smile came to Cora's ghostly face as she spoke. Heather nodded her head. She closed her eyes and forced her breathing to slow. She had gotten use to seeing Cora's apparition over the past week, but still didn't know _why_ she was seeing her.

"Can you tell me what you're here for? I'm tired of these games… the guessing." Heather waited silent and patient before opening her eyes. She smiled like Cora had done a few seconds ago and laughed. Cora was nowhere to be seen, but Heather spoke again anyway, "I didn't see ya in the mirror yesterday, what happened?" No answer, "Yeah, I understand. It doesn't work that way. It never does. I have to figure this out for myself." She muttered aimlessly to herself and sighed. There was a knock at the door. "C'mon in Holly."

Holly opened the door and leaned in with her bright, beautiful smile.

"I got the reports done!" She said. Heather felt herself smile in return. She noticed that Holly paused for a moment when she stepped inside and lost the smile for an instant, watching as a quick look of nervousness crossed her friend's face as her eyes scanned the room hurriedly.

'_Good,' _Heather thought,_ 'You're beginning to let your senses become aware of the paranormal. Consciousness or not, you're aware a ghost was here.'_

"Something wrong?"

"Huh? No, of course not." Holly replied, her smile not faltering as she tried to hide the fact it disturbed her that her pause had been caught. Heather smirked to herself.

'_You didn't think I would notice the pause, did ya.'_

Holly came forward and sat in the overstuffed armchair in front of the desk. Holly laid the six files down that she had compiled and picked up the one lying on the desk that was marked 'Cora Reagan Dean.'

"Wow, thick enough?" Holly remarked. Heather leaned back in her chair watching as Holly flipped through the pages of the file, pausing every now and then. Holly's eyes wandered to Heather after each pause before she continued to read. In time she finished and looked nervously at her friend.

"What?" Heather asked. She'd watched the color drain from Holly's face.

"Have you read what you wrote here?" Holly held up the file. Heather laughed.

"I did write it."

"Yes, but did you_ read_ it?" She raised her eyebrows as she questioned her friend. Heather's face fell into confusion.

"I'm not following." Heather said. Holly stood up and laid the file back onto the desk. Her brow furrowed, her eyes held fear. She breathed deeply, moving around to the back of the armchair and looked at Heather, indecision in her eyes.

"Holly?" Heather could tell she was shaking.

"Remove the name, and you could add another name in its place. It would read the same." Holly's eyes held Heather's.

"What are you saying?" Heather leaned forward and heard Holly whisper. "It's like she was you; your mirror image in so many ways."

Heather laughed a moment.

"Don't be so ridiculous."

"Heather. Look at it. Read it. It's you in so many ways."

"Yeah? Tell me how." Heather shot back, raising an eyebrow. Holly looked  
back at her in surprise.

"You're kidding, right?" Holly questioned. Heather crossed her arms and settled into her seat comfortably before responding.

"No." She said simply, her voice flat. Holly's mouth dropped opened as she moved back to the desk. She flipped the file open, pointing to various parts.

"You both broke your arms on the same day. Both of you were involved in a near fatal accident at the age of thirteen on the same day. You both lost your parents in car accidents with circumstances that were eerily similar. Neither of you had much of a social life during your teen years. You two went to high schools that had the same exact name!"

"That's enough. This isn't funny anymore." Heather snapped.

"I wasn't being funny." Holly took in a deep breath and began again, "You told me to point things out that seem funny or too strange to believe. You wanted me to work with you on these strange events from a fresh perspective." A silent and invisible tension sprang up between them, "But now, you want to chastise me when I do! God, Will and dad did the same thing to me. If either had listened I might not be separated from them today!" And with that, Holly turned and hurried out of the room.

"Holly, wait!" Heather sat up in her chair and called after her friend, but Holly did not pause. She merely kept going, disappearing out the door, "Damn," Heather hit the desk with her fist, "That did not go well."

"You can still go after her and apologize." A quiet voice made Heather jump. She picked her head up and saw the now familiar ghost of Cora Dean leaning in the doorframe looking back at her. Heather frowned slightly.

"Do you have to pop in like that?" She stood up straight and pointed a finger at the friendly apparition, whose mouth twitched into a slight smirk. Heather caught it and spoke again before Cora's ghost had the chance, "No, don't answer that. I'll go and apologize. I was wrong." Heather stepped around the desk, passed Cora and chased after her friend, "Holly! Wait up, let me apologize."

***************************************

The wind outside the ship rose to a steady murmur. Thunder rumbled frequently as the night sky periodically blazed with lightning. Dr. Denman hung up the phone and hesitated, pen in hand, and stared down at the paper as fat raindrops splattered against the bridge's windows. She'd written down Heather's instructions and travel plans. Some sixth sense told her that her friend's request would lead them to unexpected dangers. She heard someone enter the room and turned to meet the person. It was her assistant, who handed a piece of paper off to her. She read the words and then looked back up to  
her curiously.

"What do you mean two of these people don't exist?! Mrs. Dangerfield doesn't make this stuff up. Recheck your findings." She went to a pole, thumbed a button on the intercom, and spoke into the mike. "Andy, come to the bridge." She turned back to the subordinate. "I mean now. Someone died during those shark attacks if not this Ms Dean as she suggested then someone else did; find out whom!" She paused a second. "I want answers, not excuses." The young woman hurried out the way she had come in. Denman tuned to the two crewmen. "Change course and heading. We're returning back to the Gold Cost. I have a feeling another tsunami is on its way. Hurry. We don't have much time." She heard the bridge door sliding opening, turning, she watched as a man stepped over the threshold and out of the rain. "Andy--" Denman's voice caused the man to glance her way. She motioned him into a side room and after another moment she followed him in, shutting the door behind them. She glanced at her watch before turning to Andy. "We've got problems; serious problems." Denman grimaced before beginning again, "Heather is using the Ring. She's going _back_ to find this 'Cora' she ranted about earlier on the phone. She thinks there's an incident at a bank in California where she has to keep _Cora_ from being killed. I don't know all the details, but—"

"Jesus, doesn't she realized the damage caused from the last time. Their time machine caused a _tsunami_. The devastation was horrific." He was staring at her, round-eyed, his mouth hanging open in surprise.

"Yes. I reminded her, but she thinks there are enough justifications to support her actions. She believes Cora was never meant to die at the bank incident. That's why Amy could not find any details of a Cora Dean dying from a shark attack around Mako."

"Her and her friends are playing _God_ too much. I'm mean what gives them the right to decide who to save and who not to?" Dr. Denman let out a humorless laugh for a couple of seconds, "If it weren't for her and her _group_ neither you nor I would be having this discussion today." Andy went silent.

"We owe their group more than either of us wants to admit."

Andy growled.

"I know, but it doesn't mean I have to like it." He said finally. Dr. Denman sighed in disappointment.

"Neither do I, but it's the hand we've been dealt. I would rather be alive and be studying the anomaly of mermaids and _Sea Unicorns_ and such than lying dead six feet under and being no good to _anyone_." She replied. Andy half-smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, Angie wouldn't have had Shelia if I were gone."

"And Ms Dangerfield would've lost both of the twins instead just the one if I wasn't there to midwife the births. Things have a way of working out."

The room went silent for a couple of minutes.

"Yeah, okay. Guess the point is made." Andy's expression was blank for a second, then he added as an afterthought, "The money she's paying isn't half bad either."

"It's not about the money." Denman's reply was immediate. She didn't have to think about it, "It's never been about the money."

"Huh?"

"It's about the scientific discoveries. About being a part of history. Three months ago, Mrs. Heather Faith Dangerfield gave birth to the world's first _true_ mermaid. I delivered the child myself; my place in history is assured."

"Ah, doc… Noël was born normal without a tail—she had legs. We both were there."

"But she has the _gene_. The tests prove _that_ beyond a shadow of a doubt."

"Then where was her tail?"

"My theory is that when Noël hits puberty, she will discover her tail … and her powers."

"Oh, man; have you told Mr. or Mrs. Dangerfield of this?"

"No, not yet…" A smile grew across her face. She could see Andy regard her curiously, "Let's just say, for now, I have my reasons for not being forthcoming just yet with this. And this information stays between us. No word of this to our benefactor or her group of friends." Andy nodded silently. "That's right, luv." Dr. Denman replied softly, but with unyielding resonance. "If you betray or run from me, I'll chase you. And I'll find you."

~~OOOOooo~o0o~**End of Chapter 6**~o0o~oooOOOO~~

Thank-you, my friends, for the read and your time. Any and all comments, suggestions, thoughts, or ideas are most welcome. Reviews are loved.


	8. A Call, An attack, and Marriage

Okay, sorry about the wait. I think this has the promise of being my/our best chapter yet. It's long compare to the rest, but I hope it's enjoyable to read. I want to thank **Kaattee** again for her help and use of her character "Cora." Also, I want to thank **Kaattee, WALIXELA**, and **rweasley500** for their reviews and read. Thanks for staying around.

**A/N: WARNING: Strong violence and blood ahead. If it bothers you, please be aware that you've been warned!**

**The Setori Sisters' Secret**

Authors: Kaattee/ParadoxTremors

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**Chapter 1:** It has the short **Synopsis **of this chapter and a short bio about each character.

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**Chapter 7: **(A Call, An attack, and Marriage)

Cleo made it back to her room after taking her bath. She shut and locked the door then turned, pulling out her cell phone and leaned back against the door. She flipped the phone opened and punched a button, waiting for the desired number to be dialed. In seconds, she heard the other end of the line ringing.

"C'mon, Kimmie, pick up..." Cleo muttered to herself, silently shaking as she waited for an answer. The phone had barely begun to ring again when she noticed the digital clock on the bedside table and saw the time. It wasn't even two o'clock in the afternoon yet, which meant Kim was still in class—she hung up quickly, hoping that the single ring hadn't bothered her. She'd just have to wait another couple of hours and then try again.

Cleo sighed, disappointed. She slid down to the floor keeping her back against the door, closing the phone again and letting her thoughts drift to her little sister.

'_We need to talk, Kim. Too much is being asked about your tail for it to simply be a—' _Her thoughts died abruptly when a knock sounded on the door. Cleo stood slowly then turned, unlocked the door and opened it. A semi-smile curved her lips at the sight of her friend.

"Cora…?" She gave an unhappy little sigh; company wasn't what she wanted at the moment.

"Can I come in?" Cora asked quietly.

"Uh, well…I was planning to take a quick nap before dinner." Cleo shook her head with a wry expression on her face.

"This won't take long, I promise." Cora gave her friend a hopeful smile and brought her brown eyes up to meet Cleo's green ones. Cleo raised her eyebrows slightly.

"I thought you and Lewis—" She began, but Cora cut her off gently.

"Please, it's important."

Cleo nodded her head and stepped back waving Cora in. Her heart beat wildly. She was afraid that Cora had discovered something about the night Kim got her tail that nobody else knew and was about to spill it to her in private. Cora walked in and stopped for a couple of seconds. A slow frown brushed across her lips before she turned and looked at Cleo again.

"You look so tired and worn out from your trip. It just makes me want to—"

"_Everything_ makes you 'just want to.'" Cleo said with a laugh. Cora raised an eyebrow, confused.

"It does?"

"Yes, and you can't solve all of the world's problems with your empathy abilities." Cleo muttered solemnly, stepping back away from Cora.

"I-I wasn't going to touch you, Cleo," Cora sounded surprised by Cleo's reaction, "I just had some questions to ask you that I thought you might be able to answer, is all."

"Couldn't it have waited?"

"Well… it could have, but I'm in the middle of my research and dinner. If I don't ask now, I might forget the questions later on."

"Okay," Cleo agreed with a sigh, "But you're the smart one, not me. I don't see how I can help you." Cleo sat down on the end of her bed and Cora joined her very cautiously, her mouth twitching into a slight smile before she spoke.

"Trust me, I think you can. You already have, actually."

"How?" Cleo asked.

"Well… you gave me Heather's last name."

"Who's Heather?"

"Heather Faith Dangerfield." Cora paused a moment. Her words were slow and deliberate and Cleo could see that she was trying to find the right ones, "She and her family disappeared over the Bermuda Triangle twelve years ago and were never heard from again."

"The Bermuda _what_?!"

"It's also known as the 'Devil's Triangle.' It's a region of the northwestern Atlantic Ocean where a huge number of aircrafts and surface vessels have disappeared mysteriously over the years."

"Okay… I take it the area is assumed to have some kind of paranormal activity, then?"

"Yes."

"Then what makes this _Heather_ character any different than all the others who disappeared?"

"Her uncle was a Nobel-prize winning physicist. Rumors had it he was working in secrecy for the U.S. government on a theory that could make time-traveling possible."

"I don't follow you."

"They could use the device to _correct_ any situation that went wrong for the government."

"Oh, like '_Backstep.'_ I get it now."

"Huh?" Now Cora was the one confused. Cleo giggled.

"_Backstep_ was a show I used to watch on late night reruns with Lewis. There was this alien time machine that the government found and could only use once to step back in time seven days to correct or prevent any disaster." Cleo explained carefully, trying to remember the show. Cora nodded.

"Really? I'm surprised I've never heard of it, that sounds kind of cool—" Cora started excitedly, but then embarrassedly realized that she had momentarily gotten distracted. She had something important to get to, "It's something like that, I guess… but it's the rumors about Heather and her cousin that intrigued me."

"What do you mean?" Cleo asked slowly.

"Well… There's speculation and unconfirmed reports the two of them had paranormal abilities of their own."

"Oh." The word slipped out of Cleo's mouth and she immediately felt her stomach flip. She could feel it as the color draining from her face. She couldn't tell Cora how close to the truth she was about _Nike,_ aka Heather Faith Dangerfield. Cleo didn't want Cora to know that she knew Heather. She and Kim had made the promise of never revealing that they had met her; especially on the night Kim _fell_ into the moon pool.

Cora frowned slightly discouraged by the lack of response.

"All right… well, I'll just ask you my questions and then I'll leave - promise. I still have dinner in the stove!"

"Okay, shoot."

"Uh… Do you know what an _Altrusian Lykánthropos Fish _might be?"

"No…" Cleo creased her eyebrows together, glancing curiously at her friend. Then realization struck her and her eyes lit up quickly, "Unless you're talking about the _Egyptian_ Lykánthropos Fish."

"I have no idea, I could be – what is _that_, then?" Cora tilted her head to the side slightly and Cleo smiled at her curiosity, laughing for a moment.

"That's an ancient fish found in children's fables. Legend has it, it carried a magical virus; one that could transform the characteristic of a fish into a human host."

"Did it actually exist?"

"You tell me," Cleo let out a singular flat laugh, "I mean, I didn't believe in the existence of mermaids until Emma, Rikki and I all became one." Cora agreed with a weak smile.

"I see your point." She replied quietly, fidgeting with her hands in her lap. Cleo almost felt bad, so she spoke up and gave her friend a brighter sincere smile.

"What's the next question?" Her voice was more cheerful this time around and she watched as Cora's eyes slid sideways to look at her. She paused for a second and was quiet and still before asking.

"Do you know what a Sleestak is, Cleo?" She asked quietly. A sudden flash of recognition in Cleo's eyes made Cora's eyes widen slightly. Cleo picked up on it and immediately forced a neutral look back onto her face, masking her detection.

"N-no … never heard of it," Cleo stammered quickly and shook her head a second time, lying, "Couldn't even imagine what kind of a creature it could be." Her anxious glance shot around the room, avoiding Cora's eyes directly. Cora nodded once and peered down at her hands again before easing off of the bed gently, standing up and taking a step back from it.

"All right, thanks, Cleo - Sorry about asking such dumb questions," She smiled sadly at her friend and started turning away, "Dinner should be done in about an hour or two if you want to come down after your nap." Cora smiled and started for the door. Cleo let out a quiet unhappy sigh and stood up quickly, reaching out and touching Cora's arm as she started out the door. Her lips moved but nothing came out. Cora stopped walking and turned back to look at her friend, her eyebrows knit together with concern.

"Are you all right, Cleo?"

"I need to ask you something. And I hope it's not too personal… but you can tell me if it is."

"You can ask me anything, Cleo, you know that." Cora replied. Cleo was silent for a moment before letting the words slip out almost silently.

"Are you pregnant?" The whisper was barely audible and Cleo let her eyes close briefly. '_Please, say you're not, Cora... It's so important that you're not, for Kimmie's sake and mine.'_

Cora's face was stunned, her face pale. She bit her lip and immediately drew her eyes down to the floor, avoiding Cleo's gaze.

"No… I'm not." Came the quiet reply from Cora before she turned quickly and hurried out of the room. Cleo's cheeks turned red from embarrassment and she took a couple of steps out into the hallway and paused, watching her friend take off down the stairs. She sighed and leaned against the doorframe and shut her eyes, defeated.

'_No, don't go after her. You've upset her with the question. Let her calm down then apologize after dinner when Lewis isn't around.' _Cleo thought to herself before stepping back inside her room, closing the door behind her. Her eyes glanced over to the bed. A smile touched her lips as the thought of the comfort and rest it promised.

*

Two and a half hours later Cleo awoke and sat up in her bed. She stretched and looked down at the alarm clock, smiling. Her hand reached out and turned on the lamp, then picked up the phone. She opened the cover and punched the redial button.

"Please answer, Kimmie." Cleo listened to the ringtone. She pulled up her knees to let her chin rest on them and her free hand wrapped around her legs as a nervous reflex.

"Hello?" Kim's voice broke the ringing, sounding out of breath.

"Kimmie!"

"Cleo," Kim laughed, "I was just about to call to see if you three had made it back yet."

"What are you doing?"

"I'm over at a friend's house." Kim replied simply. Cleo could almost feel the smile radiating out from her sister through the phone—then she heard a noise in the background that unnerved her.

"It sounds like you're near water."

"I'm poolside with some friends."

"Um, Kimmie… don't you remember your water_ allergy_?"

"Duh, yeah, I remember - I'm not stupid, Cleo. But everything's okay. I'm fine. Nothing's going to happen."

"That's what I said about the pool party _I_ went to a few years ago when I was in high school. If it wasn't for Lewis, Em, and Rikki coming to my rescue---"

"--Your little secret would've been out of the bag and in the open," Kim groaned, having heard this story a million times, "But that's you, Cleo. I'm more careful than you ever could be."

"Kim!" She grimaced when she felt the anger rising up to her cheeks, "Okay, I'm not calling to start an argument with you."

"Good, I would've hung up if you had."

The silence hung in the air uneasy and thick for a few seconds.

"We need to talk. Everybody's asking questions again about your … your condition."

"My condition? What condition?" Nervousness suddenly flowed into Kim's words, "You're talking about my cancer from—?"

"No," Cleo replied frustrated. "Your other _condition_, the one with water; the one you have to constantly be on guard about."

"Oh, that …" Kim's voice had lowered to a calm whisper, "You had me worried for a second."

"You need to come home this weekend. We have to talk. Something's up," Cleo heaved a troubled groan, "I think Cora has figured out that we lied about your tail."

"How? Oh my God, is she pregnant?!" Panic rose in Kim's voice.

"NO!" Cleo screamed, "And don't think that, okay. It's impossible - She and Lewis may _sleep_ together, but Lewis wouldn't… you know."

"What? Have sex with her because they're not married? Get real, Cleo! This is the _twenty-first century_ we're living in."

"Kimmie!" Cleo's face turned a bright red.

"Just because _you_ and Lewis never—"

Cleo screamed in frustration, closed her phone and chucked it across the room. She stood up out of bed, agitated.

"Why do you have to push my buttons, Kimmie?!" She shifted impatiently, closing her eyes. Her hands rand down her face, "Calm down. That's what she _wants_ from you, to get you pissed off." Cleo let her breath slowly out and reopened her eyes.

'_Forget about it. It's not happening. Cora isn't pregnant and the year's not up yet anyway. We're safe for another two, maybe three months.' _She thought, reassuring herself. She sighed deeply again and straightened, walking to the window. Tugging the blinds opened, she peered out over the water. Her eyes looked in the general direction of Mako Island. The full moon was beginning its slow ascent into the heavens. Another few hours and it would start to shine its magical radiance over the world and all mermaids would go into hiding until morning.

**Just before midnight, under the full moon….**

In desperate reaction to yet another troubling episode of sleepwalking, Cora Reagan Dean fled to the study. She had caught herself reaching for the patio door to go out by the pool. Frozen in place momentarily from the fear of seeing the moon, she had thought of calling for Lewis—but that wasn't her. She didn't want him to lose out on his sleep, too – one of them was enough. The plastic covering over the door's glass shielded her eyes from glimpsing the mystical white orb. She shivered and knew what she had to do. Her legs carried her to the bathroom; she then looked closely at herself in the mirror. Her warm brown skin had gone pale. Her mind did not like the haunted look in her eyes.

A tingling shot of discomfort flared in both of her hands.

'_That's strange...'_ She looked down and flexed both hands a few times, '_My battle scars, you guys haven't talked to me in years._ _What's up?' _She smirked softly, feeling her leftover bitterness from the attack seep into her thoughts. The minor disfigurements left behind were a constant reminder to her and her friends about the importance of keeping their secrets. One slip and payment could be hideously excruciating. The betrayal she had suffered was an unforgivable sin. Neither she, Lewis, nor the other girls would ever forgive Zane. He was outcast from their close-knit family; shunned even by Rikki.

'_I'm glad Lewis and I weren't connected by our minds like our hearts are. I'm pretty sure the pain would've made him kill Zane that night for his mistake…' _Cora sighed heavily, looking back up to the mirror, _'But, the past is the past.'_

"I nearly blew it. Why would I tempt fate by going out by the pool tonight? Good going, Cora, you're losing it." She said to her reflection She turned and went into her sanctuary, the study: the room that had become her favorite on the nights of a full moon. It had been designed with no windows and placed in the center of the bottom floor beneath the stairs. The moon's hypotonic reflection could not reach her there through any accident of their making. There, she couldn't feel the sinister strength of the moon pressing against the house as if it was a living creature that wanted to get in at her, to make her its unwilling slave.

"Think happy thoughts. Think… think about Lewis." She smiled settling into the desk's comfortable chair, drawing her legs up to her chest.

'_Lewis is so charming in an awkward way. He's so adorable without meaning to be, he's sweet, smart and goofy in the best way…' _Cora felt an odd sensation behind her eyes that she couldn't figure out at first, and then she smiled at the warmth rising in her heart—sleep found her again.

_In the next moment, she woke. Cora wasn't sure what had awakened her, but she was back in bed, alert and tense. She blinked her eyes open and spotted the dark shape above her. Someone stood at the side of the bed, looming over her like death. Her hand felt around her neck and realization hit her: the necklace she'd been wearing had been removed. A collar with a black crystal dangling from it had replaced the cherished heirloom. The thought had barely formed in her mind when the dark shape flipped two knifes in his hands delicately, smirking as he caught them by the hilt._

'_Oh, shit!' The memories of a previous attack years ago hit her hard. Without a bit of hesitation, the man drove the knives down. Recognizing the threat, Cora reacted instinctively, rolling abruptly to the empty side of the bed as the monster's arms started their downward swing. She heard the weapons slash the mattress just before she fell off the bed. Cora landed with a soft thump finding herself tangled in the sheets. The man cursed out in frustration and anger. Glancing up, she saw her attacker jumping across the bed, knives slashing wildly toward her. She'd raised her open hand toward the intruder—nothing. Her powers were gone, neutralized._

_Cora moved, lunging to her feet. She felt pain burning across the backside of her arm and back. His weapon had grazed her. She screamed, stumbling, forgetting about the sheets tangled around her legs. She fell with a thud, hitting the floor. She rolled before staring up at her attacker for almost a full minute, then tore her eyes away to look for Lewis—he was nowhere to be found. Her heart pounded and she felt a wave of panic rise within her. She stood, turning away from her assailant. A blow from behind caught her. Searing pain shot through her and her body began to pitch forward—but a hand grabbed her silky dark mane, jerking her backward onto the bed. A knife slit her side as she fell onto the bed._

_She screamed._

_Cora knew she had to do something, to throw herself off the bed, to escape the room—but it was too late. Agony spread through her body. Her attacker jumped on her pinning her arms to her sides. The razor-edged knife in the man's right hand hovered above her—her blood covered the blade._

"_No." she begged. Her word no more than a weak plea and as it died, the knife began to descend._

_For the next few seconds Cora watched from high above, free from the pain. Again and again the steel flashed down, slashing, and cutting at the corpse that now lay still upon the bed._

"_That's enough. She's gone. This one is no longer a problem for us. We have her daughter and that's all we ever needed." Cora turned her head to the newcomer who had entered the bedroom. She'd recognized the familiar voice. Her spirit shivered as she saw Dr. Denman standing in the doorway, a smile plastered across her face._

_The man sighed and slid backed off the body, standing straight again. _

"_I love this job..." He muttered with a dark grin. Cora turned back to the bed and gasped at whose body she saw. _

'_Heather …? Dear, God, no—'_

"_You have the artifact I presume?" Dr. Denman asked softly. The man nodded and pulled a choker out of his pocket, grinning from ear to ear. _

"_It was like taking candy from a baby."_

"_Is it damaged?" She questioned. The man looked at the raised jewelry before turning back to the doctor._

"_No, it's—" His eyes widened at the gun Dr. Denman pointed at his head. The gun barked sending the projectile spiraling between his eyes. He fell instantly; dropping the choker into Dr Denman's outstretched hand. _

"_There, as I told you before this started, if you succeeded in eliminating our host, you wouldn't have another thing to ever worry about." Her voice came out cold and emotionless. She moved over to side of the bed. Denman's eyes fell upon Heather's lifeless body and she smirked, "Your major flaw my friend is your blind trust in others." She knelt placing the gun into Heather's hand, next she removed the collar. "I may need to use this lapel to neutralize another Psi or Mermaid's powers."_

_Cora eyes widened. Her hands clasped together over her mouth. _

'_No. Dr. Denman's dead. It's not possible. The dead can't come back to life…'_

_Dr. Denman stood and held up the trinket. _

"_Now, with your necklace in my possession, the playing field is level."_

Cora felt hands grabbing her shoulders, shaking her. She felt her awareness returning to the present. She came out of her daze sitting on the floor of the study looking up at Lewis, who was staring down at her, worry in his eyes.

"What happened?" He asked, staring into her eyes carefully. Confusion spread across her face and she said nothing, but glanced around the room dazedly for a moment. Lewis continued, "Are you hurt?" He caught her by the chin and tipped her face and to the side so he could get a better looked at her neck. After a moment or two, he released her with a soft curse.

"What is it?" she asked as he took her by the arm and helped her up.

"You've got a nasty bruise around your neck." He frowned, "It must've happened when you fell out of the chair." Cora looked over and found the chair tipped over lying on the floor.

"Must have," she replied calmly. Her adrenaline was still pumping but she paused briefly, her gaze moving around the room.

"What happened, Cora?" Lewis asked again. Cora was quiet for a minute; she truthfully could not be sure of what she had seen just yet, but there was no sense in sharing it until she knew _what_ it was. She smiled softly and shook her head once to shrug off the dream.

"I guess I leaned too far out of the chair in my sleep." Cora found herself watching Lewis. His expression was grim, his eyes alert and worried.

"Okay, I'll buy that for now." Lewis sighed softly and kissed the top of her head, walking with her back to their bedroom, "But later, I want to know everything that's been going on in your little head. Something's up, and you're afraid… I can tell. And no more of this dancing around evading the questions anymore; we have to trust that together we can change what you've seen – whatever you've seen. The future is never set in stone. We've learned that time after time."

Cora settled into Lewis's embrace when they were settled back in bed. Her mind drifted back to the previous Christmas when she and Lewis both decided to take a trip back to her old hometown in California. It had been years since she'd been back.

'_Too many, maybe…'_ She had thought. It was both wonderful and strange to be back and to have Lewis by her side—the boyfriend she thought she'd never have. They visited her family's cemetery plots, and she'd introduced him to her parents first, and then to Mattie. A smile caught on her lips as she closed her eyes and sank deeper into the covers.

'_Mattie liked him. She's happy for me and… finally at peace after seeing me happy, I can feel it.'_ She paused in her thinking letting everything settle in her mind, _'Lewis held me close when I broke down and cried. He didn't fuss or bicker with me, even when I felt stupid. He wanted me to get it out. Just having him there anchored my emotions- kept me level.' _She felt her smile falter sadly for a second. He had been so good to her these past four years and he deserved nothing but perfection. Cora smiled a little and pulled back from Lewis.

"Lewis…Do you ever regret--" She began to speak but her voice trailed off. A frown appeared across his face.

"Regret, what?"

"Regret our… you know, our decision. Especially since now… well… the problems getting pregnant that I'm having…" She bit her lip sadly and flicked her eyes away from his briefly, ashamed. Lewis squeezed her gently and gave her a reassuring smile.

"We'll have children when the time's right."

"Yeah…" Her voice trailed off quietly, feeling a pang of guilt flood her body. She paused, glancing into his eyes. He saw her fright reflecting back, "But do you regret our getting… married? I mean—"

"Cora, I love you. I've never regretted our marriage; never once. I loved the chapel we exchanged our vows in. I loved the fact it was the same place your parents had gotten married at, hell I even loved how immediate it was."

"But—"

"No, 'buts'. I love you, Cora. I wouldn't have gotten down on my knees to propose if I didn't love you."

"I know, and I wouldn't have said yes if I didn't love you," She smirked and felt a smile spread across her face, happy to see one on Lewis's as well, "But, what about the girls? I mean Emma, Rikki, Cleo and Kim…"

"It was a spur of the moment thing, Cora. We didn't have the time to call much less wait. We weren't thinking about anybody but our happiness, for _once_. It was the right thing for us to have done, then, and now." He smiled down at her and the side of her mouth twitched up into a half smirk as she stared into space contently.

"You're right…" The words were barely out of her mouth before her smile fell dead from her face, her thoughts starting to take order in her head. Something hit her. There was one thing from her dreams of which she felt certain about her troubling dreams. Death was stalking someone she knew, "Lewis—"

He had opened his mouth and then closed it, shaking his head.

"What?" He asked. She pushed herself up in bed, sitting up straight and looking at him; Lewis followed suite.

"I think… I think I know how to tell you what I've been seeing in these visions… dreams… _whatever_ they are. Somebody's going to die ... and I think we're running out of time." She leaned forward, letting her hands run through her hair. She bent her head down for a moment. Lewis's startled eyes moved to her face. He felt his heart thud, though at this point he shouldn't be surprised. Cora's visions always depicted trouble or disasters after disasters for one of them. They had learned to listen and trust what she had to say and to do what they had to in order to avoid the disasters. So far, so good and luckily they had prevented most of her visions from becoming reality and had survived intact for the most part.

Cora raised her gaze to Lewis to find him staring at her. She narrowed her eyes peering deep into his biting down on her lip, nervous.

'_He might think I'm crazy, but if he hasn't labeled me a nut-job yet then I'll take my chances.'_ She tried to give him a comfortable smile.

"Lewis…You will have to trust me. Just remember I'm only telling you what I know that I saw. I can't answer the 'what, how, or when.' I don't know how it's even _possible_, but this… this is going to happen unless we do something."

"Okay …" Lewis's voice shook, uncertainty shone in his eyes, "What's so bad that it has you this terrified?"

For the first few moments she couldn't bring her lips to say what needed to be said—then an image flashed back across her mind. A disturbing sight she could not forget: Heather lying dead in her own blood.

"Dr. Denman is back."

~~OOOOooo~o0o~**End of Chapter 7**~o0o~oooOOOO~~

Troubling vision of the future has Cora terrified. Could Dr. Denman be back as Cora seen it, if so, how?


	9. Holly's destiny

**N/A:** Okay, this took a little longer to complete than I expected. It's another long chapter. It's one that sheds light on a couple of Holly's abilities and Denman's (devious?) plans, and possibly something about Holly's future.

I want to thank **Kaattee** again for her help. She saved this chapter from total ruins. Everyone should run over and read her H2O Just Add Water Story, **Full Moon Rising**(It's incredibly awesome).

* * *

**The Setori Sisters' Secret**

Authors: Kaattee/ParadoxTremors

**Chapter 1:** It has the short **Synopsis **of this chapter and a short bio about each character.

* * *

**Chapter 8: **(Holly's Destiny)

Heather knew she was dreaming. She couldn't help herself. It was the same one over and over again since their return from the past. She was running hard, afraid she would not reach Cora in time to stop her.

"God, please. Help me. Stop her somehow…" Her hand stretched out timidly knowing she shouldn't use her powers in such an open and public place. _'But what choice do I have? If I don't act now…'_

"Whoa, whoa, where do you think you're going, kid?!" An officer stepped out from nowhere in front of Cora and stopped her from breaching the barricade. He pulled her back.

"You don't understand! My… my sister! They've got my sister!"

Heather could hear the desperation in Cora's frantic voice; the fear from knowing what was about to happen. Heather reached Cora, taking her into her arms and pulling her back, ignoring the strange tingling sensation passing between their touch.

"I …I've got her officer. It's okay," Heather fought down the fright in her own heart; she couldn't imagine where the officer had appeared from, but she was thankful nevertheless for the save, "I won't let her go." She smiled at the man, "I promise she won't be any more trouble, sir." He nodded, smiled kindly at her, and turned away disappearing into the crowd. Heather tried to catch her breath.

'_He was like an angel, fallen straight from Heaven—an answer to my prayers.'_

She touched Cora's chin, to tip it up. The jolt sizzled through her instantly. Memories, thoughts, and dreams of Cora's life flashed through her mind. The strangeness of the moment told her what Holly already suspected and knew—Cora was her in this reality of time, and she was the "Cora" in her own world.

Cora pulled away the moment after the jolt and locked eyes with her for a second before snapping her head back towards the bank. Heather had seen confusion running rampant through Cora's thoughts. For a split-second Heather recognized the feeling flashing through Cora's eyes. Somewhere on a subconscious level Cora understood the startling fact of their connection_._

"Easy, easy," Heather said, her voice low, soft, coaxing, "I'm not here to hurt you. I want to help." Softly and very gently she cupped Cora's chin. Cora flinched, her confusion growing. Finally, Heather managed to turn Cora's face up so she could see her. The tangle of hair fell away, revealing Cora fully to her. Heather let go and settled her hands on Cora's shoulders. She stared into Cora's contorted face of grief, "You're not alone."

Thick tears came to Heather's eyes. The girl in her arms was hardly listening, her body tense and ready to lunge off of the pavement for the bank's entrance at the first chance she had. Cora had already started to squirm out of Heather's grip as if she were being physically pulled toward the bank.

'_What can I say?' _Heather thought.Dizziness and doubt made her sway and she caught Cora in her arms as she tried to move passed her.

"No," Heather whispered in Cora's ear. "It's already too late ... I-I'm sorry." Her gripe tightened around Cora, "This is the one time ya can't save the world, Cora." Heather heaved, her voice barely over a whisper. She knew the girl couldn't hear her anyway, "Not today." For a moment the terror was so great in Cora that she could not even breathe, let alone cry, "I-I'm sorry, Cora. Hate me if you must, but I can't let ya sacrifice yourself like this, not today. Too many lives are at stake." Heather whispered on deaf ears, her tears finally falling. The shots began to fire, and she felt Cora lurch forward in her arms and watched as the girl drew in a lungful of breath in a convulsive, heaving lurch and let out an earsplitting, sudden scream.

"MATTIE!"

Holly stumbled and fell by their side, out of breath. Tears were in her eyes.

'_I'm sorry. I didn't realize my mistake,'_ Her psychic whisper touched Heather's mind, '_I didn't realize there were so many branches of the bank in one area.'_

'_It's okay. We got here in the nick of time. Everything's alright. Cora's safe now.' _Heather's mindsong answered back. Holly nodded as Heather looked around.

'_Where's that police officer? He couldn't just up and dis—'_ Another shot rang out.

Heather could feel the scream in her throat as she jerked awake. Her mouth was opened but no sound came out; the scream had been silent, like her sleep. A sense of fear and a sense of loss washed over her. She opened her eyes and reached for the hand next to hers.

"Ouch, that hurts." Holly grimaced. "Take it easy on the hand, will you? It'll be broken by the time we land."

"Sorry." Heather smiled bitterly, letting go. She looked out the window. Her fear, confusion, and an eerie feeling of desolation hardened in the pit of her stomach. They were finally out over the Pacific, heading to Australia. She swallowed, her attention divided as she looked back to Holly, "I don't mean to keep grabbing your hand."

"Our little jaunt into the past rattled you, didn't it?" Holly stated in a low, concerned voice, "Is that normal?"

Heather felt disconnected from everything around her since touching Cora and holding her back behind the police lines in California.

"No, it isn't. But what ya said back in the study, at the house… before we left on our journey to the past. I think you may be right. Cora and I may have the same soul but in different bodies."

"How's that possible?"

"I'm not sure I can explain it and make sense, but I'll try… We have two different realities. Somewhere in her past or mine, our heritage diverted to different paths. That's why we look and act so different."

"That would've helped if you'd explained it to me _before_ we chased after her."

"Again, I'm sorry. I should've warned ya, but I didn't - my mistake. It won't happen again, I promise." Heather paused and smiled at Holly, "You did great, you know. You kept your cool and did everything right. You didn't kill anybody with your powers."

Holly blushed, embarrassed by the praise.

"Thanks, I think."

Heather nodded and looked back out the window. Everything about their traveling back in time to stop Cora from entering the bank seemed like nothing more than a dream to her. It had happened, she knew it had. She and Holly discussed it every time she woke up, it seemed. Each time she closed her eyes she went back to the event. It played over and over in her mind. It was as if she had missed something; Something she couldn't figure out just yet. The more she thought about the incident, the more things seemed to jumble in her mind—

"Heather?" Holly's voice brought her out of her thoughts.

"Yes," she said pleasantly, turning back to her friend.

"What if we _didn't_ make it in time? What if she had run into the bank? Would we have tried again?"

"No." Heather looked down at her twitching hands, "If we had failed, then there would've been no retrying. We only get one shot, and one shot only."

"Why?" Holly questioned. Heather looked back up.

"Because _we_ cannot exist again in the same moment if we are already there. Our minds would become entangled with our other selves and both would be driven into madness, killing us."

"Oh, I guess that makes sense."

Heather smiled.

"You have _no_ idea what I just said, do you?"

"No. Absolutely not. But I get the drift that it would be bad." Holly admitted, blushing. Heather laughed softly.

"Yes, very bad."

There were a few moments of uncomfortable silence before Holly spoke.

"Did you really _touch_ her mind?"

"Yes … I felt what she felt. When the gunshots began inside the bank, my heart jumped; I heard them each go off, one, two, three, four … and when it got to five, I felt an indescribable pain rip through my chest—it was Mattie's turn. I couldn't breathe, my eyes went cloudy." Heather paused, hesitative about going on. A tear slipped from her right eye

"And?" Holly urged. Heather looked up at Holly again.

"I can't … go on. It feels too personal, like I'm exposing her thoughts and secrets out into the open. I wouldn't want that if the roles were reversed."

"Heather … how do we know they weren't? I mean, if your mind and spirit touched hers and nearly merged together, then why didn't she feel it too?"

"Grief, maybe…"

"But, what if she _did_?"

"I hope she _didn't_," Heather's voice quivered with hurt, "Then she would know my pain. And no one, not even my worst enemy, should ever have to feel the heartache and sadness I've experienced and seen." Holly touched her hand.

"Has it been that bad?" She asked softly. Heather smirked.

"Sometimes."

"Then, why do it?"

Heather couldn't answer for a second. It was difficult to respond with an answer that wasn't complicated and confusing for others to understand. She simply turned and looked back out the window.

"It's hard to explain."

* * *

Holly watched Heather. She closed her eyes and tried to sleep, but after a couple of moments she opened them again to stare out the window once more.

'_The dreams won't let you sleep. You can't rest.' _Hollythought sadly, watching her friend. Narrowing her eyes and saying a quick prayer under her breath she slipped into Heather's thoughts. It took little effort to give the command.

'_Sleep my friend. Leave your troubling thoughts behind you. Rest.'_

Heather looked at her a few moments. A troubled look creased her face, and then her eyes closed to sleep. Holly smiled.

'_You need the rest, that's all. Your strength will be needed when we get out to the Island. If the Lost City is there, then the Sleestaks will be, too.'_

She rubbed her face with her hands and leaned back in her seat letting her own mind wander back to their trip into the past. It had been her first. She heard Heather's words filtering back to her ears from their excursion into the past.

_**Flashback**_

"Its, okay, Holly, we're safe from the danger. Cora has the chance now to--"

"—to die in the shark attack on Mako Island." Holly Marshall finished the thought, weeping silently. She stood and stepped away from Heather and Cora. Her long blonde hair spilled over her shoulders and down her front halfway to her waist. Her head tilted up, her eyes focused on nothing but the entrance of the bank. The shots still echoed madly in her ears. She felt the smothering presence of death lingering, waiting for more victims. Her eyes turned onyx and filled with anger. She never blinked, waiting, expecting. Her emotions drained away.

"They'll come out shooting … They'll cause more deaths." The words fell out empty and hollowed from her lips, "I can't stand by and just let it happen."

Heather screamed at her.

"Don't, Holly! It's not our responsibility to save the others!"

Holly said nothing. The only reply she gave was a sad little smile. A part of her soul seemed to tear away and raced toward the lamppost closest to the bank's entrance. In seconds sparks flew from one of the wires; in the next, she became the spark. Her spirit melted right into the electricity and flowed into the bank.

"Holly, don't do it!"

She ignored her friend. Turning sideways she brought up her arm pointing toward the entrance of the bank. She could see everything now going on inside the bank through the security cameras. Her hand opened, fingers spreading apart, stretching before closing back into a fist.

"There's no choice, Heather. I must stop them." A tight knot manifested in her stomach, "This has to end quickly before others are killed."

"No, Holly … you don't know what you're doing. You don't have the practice." She felt Heather's fingers tightened around her other hand. She could feel her already raw emotions attempting to create some type of a barrier between Heather's touch and her hand.

"I have to. I can't let my _innocence_ die here."

"What? What's _wrong_ with ya?" She caught tears streaming down Heather's cheeks.

"They're coming out." At the moment, Holly wanted nothing more than to soothe her stomach, embrace numbness and be detached from it all_. _

'_Maybe I can experience total anesthetization… Dad, Will, why can't you all be here by my side? I need you two. I'm so afraid of what I'm becoming.' _She looked back at Heather and the now unconscious Cora for a moment before turning her concentration back to the matter at hand. A blank, distant look fell across her face.

"Holly!" Heather pleaded.

Two men rushed out of the bank, dressed in body armor firing up into the air before pointing their weapons toward Holly and the crowd that had gathered outside.

"NO!" Holly let a tortured scream out throwing her fist opened toward the killers.

Holly didn't know what she expected to happen, but she allowed instinct and her desires to take control. The wires from the lamp post instantaneously snapped lose. They danced wildly about and around the stunned robbers, striking each senseless. The first man was thrown back out of his boots through the glass window of the bank's entrance. The second fell screaming and convulsing as volt after volt of electricity charged into his body.

Holly's mind reached out gathering in all the glass debris inside the bank and redirected each piece away from everybody. The third man was knocked unconscious by the second who fell into him with a powerful force. They both hit the floor unmoving.

'_You can at least rest in peace now, Mattie.' _Holly's essence drew back out of the electricity in the bank's cameras and returned to her shivering body. She would come to realize later the essence of her spirit she threw out did not exist in the same confusing world as she did—Holly was certain of it. Where it belonged or went she didn't know just yet, but it was always there waiting for her to call it back to her world.

But there was a price to pay for such abilities.

Holly stood there, breathing heavily. She felt totally disoriented, on the verge of tears, shards of pain planted square in the back of her head. In moments the headache would blow into a full blown migraine, sending unimaginable pain through her head and neck with every pulsing beat of her heart.

'_I'm sorry Heather, but I couldn't stand by and let those men kill anymore. Don't be mad, please. I did what I thought was right.' _A sudden cramp doubled her over, and she cried out falling to a knee.

'_The pain is getting worse. Breathe in. Breathe out. In. Out.' T_hen she noticed the two small crimson spots on the sidewalk, '_Oh, no.'_ Holly's fumbling hand felt wetness around her nose. _'Phat rat …_ _blood,'_ the thought hit her. _'My blood.'_ An unhappy smile touched her lips momentarily, '_The price for using the power, I guess.'_

"Does your head hurt?" She heard the soft, concern-filled voice of Heather. She forced a smile.

"Pretty much… Yes." She waited and listened. There was no answer. There were still sounds and voices, but they were further away than she thought they should be.

"How bad?" Heather's voice finally asked as if from a great distance.

"It's pretty bad." Holly whispered, feeling her heart racing wildly. She could feel cold sweat on her arms and brow, "The worst yet, I think." She closed her eyes. There was no point in telling her that in an hour she would not be able to think coherently. No use in stating what Heather already understood about her powers; she wasn't a natural psychic like her friend.

"Can ya stand?"

"I'll try… no promises." Tears of pain coursed down her cheeks. Holly grimaced as she began to move, stepping back toward her friends. She stumbled and fell to the ground sitting back between her ankles, rocking.

"Holly?" She heard the fear creeping back into Heather's voice. She couldn't speak, "Holly?"

She put her face in her hands and sobbed helplessly; that had been the most she'd ever dared to use her powers. It was beginning to become very hard for her to think now. Her mind was drowning in a great black sea of throbbing pain.

"I hurt, Heather. I-I really, truly hurt." She muttered, crying, looking up. Holly stared at Heather and Cora but her mind didn't see them, "I want my normal life back. I want to be back with my family. No Grumpy, no tails. I just want the average, everyday routine of a normal life for someone my age. I shouldn't be jumping through time saving people … it isn't me."

"Holly…" She could tell Heather was worried about her. Holly stood; she was not in the mood for chitchatting. She staggered and walked away in a daze, hoping to forget what had just occurred. She didn't know what had happened to her when she chose to use this power of hers_, _but she felt different each time—and she didn't really know if it was a _good _or _bad _thing that was happening.

_**The Present**_

Holly pulled out of her recollection and sighed tiredly glancing at her watch. An hour had slipped away. She reached inside her shirt pocket. The scrap piece of paper she had taken with her on the mission was still there. She looked at it a moment, then over to her friend. A frown turned her lips down as she realized what she had done to Heather, what she'd so resented the Land of the Lost had done to her a few times.

'_I'm so sorry, Heather.'_ She stood from her seat and moved toward the back of the plane toward the restroom. A lady exited as she reached for the door. A quick grin lit her face as she nodded a silent "hello" to the stranger. The woman brushed pass without a returned greeting. Holly let the smile go, stepped into the cramp quarters and locked the door behind her.

Holly looked back over the newspaper clipping. Her uncanny ability to remember changes in the time continuumwas both a blessing and a curse; today, it was a blessing. On the original list of names killed during the bank robbery, four notable names were now missing—Cora Reagan Dean - that was Heather's choice. The other three were the most important. They were her dad, Rick Marshall, her brother, Will Marshall and.._.herself._

She crumpled up the article, dropped it into the lavatory, and flushed. Two things had been accomplished on their mission.

* * *

Doctor Elisha Denman's office was at the stern of the ship. A large bay window gave a magnificent view of the ocean and the setting sun. Elisha stood looking out at the beautiful, quiet scene with her arms crossed behind her back. For a moment she did not acknowledge the man who had entered the office. She smirked quietly to herself before moving over to the coffee machine in the corner. She poured some coffee in a cup and returned to the desk, sitting in the chair, taking a slow drink; she looked up to the tall stranger.

"Who am I talking to?" Her voice resonated cold and emotionless.

"Eric." The man replied.

"I'm sorry; I didn't catch the last name." She stated. He smiled business-like.

"That's because I didn't give you one."

"I see." Denman felt a little inward shuddered. She wasn't a woman who shuddered easily. Something about his demeanor unnerved her just a bit. His coal-colored, listless eyes radiated an unsettling coldness, "You come at a high price."

"My field of work speaks for itself." His smile widened, "No one has complained about my methods or the end results. Besides, I'm the only one who has any experience dealing with these _children _of yours." He moved to sit in the chair in front of Denman's desk.

"I don't think I asked you to sit."

"You didn't." He settled into the chair, folding his hands into his lap.

"I do not like being disrespected." Dr. Denman narrowed her eyes. The man sat back, steeple his fingers, and stared back unblinking.

"If I chose to _disrespect_ you, you would be dead now."

"I see." A smile slipped across her lips, "I like your attitude. It fits perfectly for what I want you to do. Take personal charge of a particular mission I have planned. Execute it and leave behind no witnesses."

"Very good, Dr. Denman. You do know my terms; are they acceptable?"

"You will never have to worry about anything ever again if you accomplish what I ask."

"Still; my terms, are they agreeable?"

"Yes, yes… fine, whatever. Although I don't understand why you desire to have—"

"My desires and needs are not your concern."

"Fine, as long as it doesn't interfere with my plans; and as long as _she_ stays neutralized and out of my way."

His smile widened.

"How soon can you begin?" She asked. A cold heartless laugh escaped his lips.

"I've already begun. The child has been secured and the grandfather has been _neutralized_." He said. Dr. Denman arched an eyebrow.

"Efficient _and_ fast, I see."

"That is how I operate." Eric lost his smile, "That part of the operation didn't require delicate hands. The child is only three months old. The grandfather had no _special_ abilities; an easy target."

"Dr. Winchester never struck me as being an 'easy target.'"

"For most, no; that's what makes my services special."

Dr. Denman grinned.

"Confident. And so sure… I've known many people with such attributes that are no longer around to boast."

"Yes, I understand your concern, but I am not like the others. I simply do not, and _will_ not fail." He said, a cheeky smirk playing across his face. She crossed her arms.

"Right, I believe that." She replied. The man gave an emptied laugh and waved her stare off.

"I understand you believe yourself to possess a device that can render the _children_ powerless one at a time." Dr. Denman opened the middle drawer of the desk, smiling, and took something out. It was encased in a hard plastic box. She passed it to Eric, who looked at it and then passed it back, "What are you showing me?" He asked.

"Nothing, really. Nothing but a very rare black crystal." she lifted up the container looking at the stone in its plastic encasing musingly, "This is the one item that will neutralize a Psi or Mermaid's special abilities and powers."

"I see." Eric sighed, "And you tested this theory, how?" He asked. The smile grew on her face as she looked back to her guest.

"I have my secrets, and you have yours."

"Indeed."

"Anyway, if there's a wildcard in all of this, it would be this _Holly Marshall_." She said.

The man shook his head, his voice turning lethally sure.

"She is nothing. A misplaced soul in the wrong place and at the wrong time who is becoming sick each time she uses her newfound powers."

"I don't follow."

"This _Holly Marshall_ is hemorrhaging each time she uses her _real_ abilities. Her nosebleeds are the tell-a-tell sign. I suspect she can't keep it going. Instead of being the wildcard, I believe her to be the weak link." Dr. Denman stared at him at a loss, which was rare; the smile was gone from her face. He stared back at her with one cocked eyebrow. "Simply put, she's dying."

_**Meanwhile on Mako Island…**_

Somewhere within the deep catacombs of the dead volcano, a tremor rocks the ground awakening the long dormant Sleestaks ….

~~OOOOooo~o0o~**End of Chapter 8**~o0o~oooOOOO~~

Well? Love to have some feedback. I do appreciate your time and read my friends. Hope everyone enjoyed at least some part of this chapter.


	10. Who is Rani Anamarie Marshall?

**A/N:** Now, I can tell you, **WALIXELA**, your guess chapters earlier were correct about Rani. She is who you thought she was. You figured it out way before anyone else did and that surprised me.

I appreciate your read and following of the story. I hope it continues to hold your interest. Any thoughts or suggestions are always welcomed.

I may have assumed wrongly that everyone knew the state of "Alabama" was a southern part of the United States of America; if I did, I'm sorry.

A very big, BIG, BIG "thank-you" to Kaattee (you know what you've done and helped me with). Appreciate the friendship and kindness.

**The Setori Sisters' Secret**

Authors: Kaattee/ParadoxTremors

**Chapter 1:** It has the short **Synopsis **of the story, this chapter, and a short bio about each character.

**Chapter 9: **(Who is Rani Anamarie Marshall?)

**June 30th ….**

Rani Anamarie Marshall had been careful to avoid any of the popular hangouts since the day before. Her encounter with Rikki Chadwick and Emma Gilbert had nearly made her heart stop for good. Rani was afraid the two girls may have suspected who she was and she didn't need the complications. They knew she was with Dr. Denman and that in and of itself disturbed her. She couldn't figure out how they knew. The girls had terrified her at the airport, especially Rikki—she wasn't _anything_ like the report that had been compiled about her. Rani had even gone out of her way to walk several blocks to the meat market at the opposite side of town away from Max's Wharf and the docks to avoid any more chance encounters. What she hadn't counted on was the unexpected stop she would make at an antiques store.

The day had started out with gray skies and the air was filled with the threat of rain. The streets were clogged with traffic, and on the sidewalks people hurried to and from their destination.

'_No chance to meet the girls. Not with the threat of rain ... although they don't know like I do that it won't rain today.'_

"Holly!"

She froze. Turning her head toward the park across the street, fright grew in her heart. Her eyes scanned the area.

'_Stay cool, don't panic._ _Nobody knows your real name here.' _Then the voice rang out again.

"Holly, Holly, over here."

Rani let the small smile touch her lips for a moment as she relaxed. A young man had called out and a woman jogged over to him. They embraced.

'_Friends or lovers, I wonder. It would be so nice to have a… No, not possible, don't even think about it. Lewis and Cora might've worked out for a time, but tragedy did strike. She was killed in the shark attack._ She paused a moment to laugh sadly. _Or should I say tragedy _will_ strike in a few days ... and there's nothing I can do to change it.' _

She shook her head.

'_God, Holly, you're such a pessimist. Heather would tell you to look at her and Eric. Not only have they survived, they even brought a child into the world.' _Sadness took her. '_But it won't happen for me. It can't. Who wants to love a freak much less be with one?'_ She turned from the scene of the couple and moved on, walking slowly, _'If only God would show _me_ how I could make a relationship work. I'm tired of seeing others happy. It's my turn… my time.'_

Her feet kept moving. Rani lost track of where she was until tingling warmth touch her spirit. She stopped, looked around, standing hesitative at the storefront window of an antiques store. She studied the antiquity of the displayed items with a weary and contemplative eye. An odd set of jewelry had caught her eye—she had paused because the stones had seemingly reached out to her with a strange radiance of power. Invisible tentacle wisps of energy touched, caressing her soul. The dullness and the constant nervous twitching sensation within her head had disappeared only for the second time since she arrived in Australia.

She could feel an eerie hypnotic lull settling over her_—_Rani moved as if in a dream. She went inside the building without even thinking about it. The _pull_ was too strong to resist. Two men stopped her as she entered the store.

"Are you lost, child?" The man on the right spoke harshly.

"No, I just wanted to look--" She turned slightly to point toward the window display when the other rudely interrupted her.

"And what form of payment are you planning to use in our store?"

"This." She frowned as she pulled a credit card from her back pocket and held it up. The one on the left took the card and eyed it suspiciously.

"You _do_ have identification for this, don't you?"

"Yes." Rani pulled out her wallet removing the Alabama driver's license.

"Holly Marshall …" He looked at her skeptically, "From the States?"

"Yes."

"You won't mind if _we_ check the card and the ID will you?" He took her identification, turned, and left quickly for the back. 'Rani' eyed his backside angrily, her face going serious. A surprising annoyance coated her words.

"Make it quick because I don't like being questioned about my integrity, and I am in a hurry."

"Yeah, right, whatever," The remaining man smirked, "You do realize we _prosecute_ people with stolen credit cards."

Rani eyed him. '_God, I hope Heather was right about that card.' _Within a few minutes, she heard a loud commotion somewhere in the back.

"Jeez, Sam, look at that freaking balance. She could buy out the whole damn store a hundred times over."

Another voice yelled.

"Get out there and apologize … Make that girl happy, _now_!"

Rani glared at her company and smiled. Within seconds the men gave her a wide berth and the run of the store. The men had even pulled the jewelry that had caught her eye in the window display from the outside to the register. She leaned over the glass counter, squinting down at the price of the high-grade trinkets, rings, and bracelets within. She straightened and looked at the man behind the register.

"Are these prices correct?"

"Yes, Miss, they are."

"Ten thousand for a common ring? Twenty-five thousand for a charm bracelet … you must be kidding. It contains an emerald that can _barely_ be seen. How much are those?" She pointed to the three-piece jewelry set that had pulled her into the store.

"One-hundred fifty-three and some change," the man spoke as if the price was nothing unusual. Rani's eyes widened.

"Jeez, what are they made of?"

"Very rare crystal stones believed to be from another planet."

Rani looked back down. It was then she realized the crystals shards reminded her of the stones from the Land of the Lost. They were indigo, blue, and a green that her spirit felt drawn to. They each felt eerily like a part of her soul that she had not noticed was missing until now. Something about the set made the irritable nervous buzzing disappear from her mind.

'_Heather is _so_ going to kill me.'_

**One hour later….**

Rani held the grocery bag in her arms, not paying attention, turning to push the door open with her backside to leave the meat market. Stepping out she turned, colliding with a stranger whose attention was just as distracted as hers—she stumbled backward a step. He grabbed her to keep her from falling and his eyes caught hers. The groceries fell to the ground.

"Lewis?" Rani inhaled, startled, immediately forgetting she'd been holding anything. Her eyes bugled upon her recognition of the 'stranger.'

"Sorry," he said. "That's my fault. Stupid of me—"

"M-my fault." Rani cut him off. Her heart raced. She'd never had the intention of meeting up with _the_ Lewis McCartney_._

"You know me?"

Rani nodded her head 'yes" before realizing what she had done. Her eyes widened in fear, afraid of the next question.

"Are you all right?" A feminine voice spoke up next.

"Fine. Really." Rani's voice came out scared and shaky. She couldn't tear her eyes away from Lewis, "I wasn't watching where I was going."

"I think the only thing hurt is the groceries." The voice said with quiet chuckle. Rani tuned toward the second voice—it was Cora Reagan Dean. Her heart skipped a terrified beat and the weirdest thing happened. Cora touched her for a split second as she reached out to help her, and in that instant everything and all the people around Rani began to fade away as if they weren't real - merely a figment of her imagination. Everything slipped into a haze—everything except Cora. She did not fade. In fact, as Rani stared at the girl, she became more vivid, more real, and increasingly threatening.

"Miss? Are you okay?" Rani felt another hand touching her shoulder. She did not turn to look to see who it belonged to. The voice had seemed so far away, like it was coming from the end of a long tunnel. Her eyes could not peel away from Cora. Disoriented, dizzy with a tremendous weight of indefinable fear pressing down on her.

'_No, this can't be happening.'_

Her heartbeat, already fast, became frantic. Rani suddenly understood that she must run. Turning, she shouldered Lewis and knocked him to the ground. She stumbled and ran without a backward glance. Rani was barely aware that she'd practically run over Lewis. Store windows flashed by as she fled.

'_Oh, God. Oh, God. I've screwed up. I made contact with them _again_. That can't happen. It's not good. I can't change things here—it'll mix up my future!'_

Thereafter she was oblivious of everything, for the world around her disappeared. She ran, legs pumping. Her mind struck dumb by fear. All she could think of was to get away; get away before she changed her timeline. Rani dodged around and shoved people aside without being aware of them. She was aware only of the need to escape. The shock of coming face to face with Cora had unnerved her to the point of panic.

She ran.

Blinded by the fear, she became lost and uncertain of her direction. Time seemed to hold no meaning for her. Suddenly, exhausted, Rani paused a moment, looking around.

'_I'm lost ... just freaking fantastic. My stupidity strikes again.' _She turned around, more confused than ever before. She leaned against a brick wall beside the steps of an abandon building—tears threatened to fall from her eyes, '_I'm such an idiot. I'm not cut out to do this sort of thing.'_

Rani closed her eyes and tried to think of what happened. She found herself sweating and gasping for breath. Her mouth was dry, sour. Her throat burned, and her chest ached. She tried to think back. The sudden appearance of Cora had frightened her. Rani could not remember how she'd bumped into her, but there she was; and Rani had run in panic. Gradually the fear subsided a bit and her breathing almost returned to normal. Her heartbeat finally slowed, and for a moment she was fine—then it hit. The nervous fright slammed back into her. She jerked her head up peering back down the way she had come. A sixth sense was warning her of approaching trouble.

'_From where?! From what direction? How can this stupid sixth sense of mine help me if it doesn't pinpoint the direction of the danger?'_

There was rain and a dark shadow running, both heading in her general direction.

"Phat rat! Doesn't he give up?" Rani turned, running, panicking. She took the first alley to her left across the street, pushing herself, hearing the rain approaching fast.

'_God, no; not the freaking rain! It wasn't supposed to rain today.' _She ran desperately down the alleyway—and then stopped abruptly. The air pressure in the passage shifted violently; and she knew without a guess what was happening, '_Damn, not now. I don't have time for this, God.' _She sighed nervously. '_I'd rather face a hoard of Sleestaks than one of Anstice's Demonhunters._ _I've never faced one alone before…'_

She looked around frantically, moving, trying to figure out where the creature would appear. Then, finally, a shadowy figure stepped out from a darkened alcove. The stranger smiled and she let her gaze linger over his pale face. His eyes were a frightened shade of red; she saw no soul—this man was not human. Then she saw the gun pointing her way. She stopped, nearly stumbling, but managed to keep upright.

'_Oh, jeez, this is where the danger was coming from. Stupid, Holly! Lewis was never the threat, He wouldn't have hurt me. The panicking made me assume the wrong thing!' _

The man before her laughed bitterly.

"Too easy." He fired the weapon. Rani threw her hands up instinctively. The bullets stopped inches from her face. Fright and anger drew across her face. She held the ammunition in place for a few seconds before allowing the six shells drop to the ground. She eyed the stranger noting there were fifteen feet separating her from him. She felt her palms starting to sweat. The man started to walk toward her, "Your Mer-powers are incredible."

'_He knows!' _Terror started to set in. She backpedaled and turned to run, but he was there, lunging at her. Fear hit her hard as his hand closed around her throat and lifted her off the ground. Her fingers dug at his hand as he held her dangling off the ground.

"H-how…?!"

His free hand turned into the claw of a loin. He slashed at her midsection ripping her shirt to shreds. She could tell his eyes found what they expected, imbedded in her navel was the incandescent blue crystal she had bought from the antiquity store. Infuriated, he slung her across the alley like she was a ragdoll. Rani cried out as her back hit the brick wall ten feet above the ground. She fell and crumpled to the ground like a puppet cut from its string. Before she could react, he grabbed the backside of her head. His hand closed and knotted in her hair. He raised her up again dangling her once more off the ground. His clawed hand turned back into a human's. He reached up and ripped her shirt opened revealing the gemstone dangling from the choker. He was stunned. "The Natasha-Anamarie Choker… you have it? Give it to me!"

"N-never," Rani choked, blood dribble down from the corner of her mouth, "I bought it. It's mine." A black wave of despair spilled over Rani, but her heart began to pound even more fiercely than before and she found a strange strength she had not imagined she possessed—then she remembered something. A smile crept across her lips. One of her hands dipped into her back jean pocket quickly. '_Thank you, Heather… Thank you for making sure that I'm always prepared for these encounters.' _She pulled out a plastic sandwich bag filled with salt, "But I _do_ have something here in—"

The Demonhunter reached for the bag automatically to pull it from Rani's grasp. Between his grabbing and Rani's pulling back on the plastic bag it ripped opened, showering the contents across the demon's shocked face. The demon lost his form dissolving into a dissipating stench of black smoke. Yelping in surprise, Holly dropped to the ground and rolled into a crouch. An odd sensation blew across the back of her neck.

"Ha! Bet you didn't see _that_ coming." Rani stood. She then stiffened with the realization she was no longer alone. The air currents shifted once more. Three darts shot into her neckline. She screamed. The three pinpricks lit her neck up with broiling fire of intense pain. Her hand went up to her neck as she turned just in time to catch a boot to her midsection. The blow sent her flying backward into a pile of discarded wood. Something stabbed into the lower right side of her back. She screamed from the pain as much as from her frustration. She staggered back to her feet feeling the blood tickling down her back. She wiped her mouth to find she'd bitten her lip.

'_Just great, another busted lip.'_

He came after her. Rani had only seconds to react, falling, rolling back and away, she kicked up—but he moved with the inhuman quickness of his breed. He'd caught her foot and laughed; jerking hard, he threw her back across the alley into the brick wall. She screamed from the brutal mixture of the pain and annoyance building within her. He was on her, turning her to face him. His opened hand arched out slapping her solid across the cheeks several times before letting go. Rani spun hard falling into the alcove indentation of the wall. Dazed and sick she looked up. His confident smile irritated the hell out of her as he stood just on the outside of the entrance. She gathered herself to stand, and then hesitated in a crouch when she heard the startling noise of a blaring horn coming closer—then darkness took her mind.

* * *

"Lewis," Cora began cautiously, creasing her eyebrows together and snapping her head in the direction that the girl had just run, "I think she's confused ... Very confused." She turned back to Lewis, who stood from being tackled by the stranger. She grabbed his arm gently, "Catch her, Lewis. She doesn't know what she's doing. Her mind is really scattered and I think... I think she needs our help. Hurry – I'll go get the car." From the outside it may have sounded strange, but Lewis nodded his head and ran after the girl without a question. After four years with Cora and seven years with mermaids, he was used to these kinds of outbursts.

Cora paused long enough to gather up the girl's spilled groceries. In half a minute she was racing back to their black Land Rover LR2. Her heart pounded. Something inside of her knew the girl was or would soon be in danger.

An icy chill of dread sliced suddenly through Cora, making her stumble. Her knees had nearly buckled and she fell against the driver's side door of their SUV—she was surprised by her own sudden clumsiness. She felt cold, chilled liked she'd never before felt. Her eyes darted around coming to rest on a tall, lean, dark-haired man staring back at her. Something about his pale features and the hungry way he looked at her made her shiver. She looked down and groped for the keys dangling from her side. _Hurry_, she told herself. In seconds Cora had the keys in her hand. She pushed it into the lock and fumbled with the door handle. She quickly got in; throwing the bag of groceries on the floor mat in the back, then turned and locked the door behind her. Her eyes gazed up and outward toward the stranger—but he was gone. Cora looked around but saw no sign of the foreigner; warning bells immediately went off in her head.

_'Not good, Cora, not good! Something's not right.'_ Her thoughts rang out in her head as she started the truck, glancing around once more for the stranger. She let an anxious smile touch her face—then her breath caught in her throat. Something about the man she'd seen filled her with a sudden sense of terrible danger, and she had broken out in a cold sweat.

"Ohh, come on, body, _seriously_...?! Not now, not now, not now..." She groaned, feeling the familiar tingling of a strong vision coming on.

Disoriented, the troubling vision hit. It hit hard. It was like a nightmare within a nightmare never wanting to end—She found herself running, hearing her own footsteps pounding in her ears. She slipped a moment, staggering, but caught herself. She sensed disaster—death was in the air, closing in quickly. Her heart was racing like never before. She heard voices whispering incoherently. She could feel it in the pit of her stomach that something very bad was happening.

A bodiless voice kept yelling at her to hurry, that her time was running out—Cora felt herself cry out. Rain started to fall. She ran blindly, letting instinct guide her. The rain soaked her clothes through to her skin, made her hair fall into her eyes, blinding her, and causing her to trip and fall. In the next instant she became aware that she was sitting inside the side entrance foyer of an abandoned building. She could not remember having left the Land Rover. She was sitting on the wet ground, squeezing into the corner, her back pressed to the brick wall, staring out into the alley. She was terribly frightened of something—something _terrible_, and it was out there in the open just outside her view. She could hear the sound of it. A struggle was happening between two people. She didn't want to see it, but something inside of her made her move.

She stood on weak, wobbly legs. Her heart beat hysterically. A mingle feeling sense of fear and a sense of loss hit her like a ton of bricks. People were about to die. Cora inched her way slowly to the edge of the opening, understanding she was in a place without any friends to rescue her if trouble came her way. It was then that she heard the earth-shattering scream of a girl.

Cora came to the edge of the opening and froze. Her eyes widened in fear—Lewis lay across the alley leaning against the far wall, unmoving. His face had on it a look that had grown familiar to Cora, recognizable: the look of death. His shirt was ripped opened and it hung from his body in shreds. There was a disorienting throb of pain flooding her entire midsection as she recognized his wounds.

_'It's the same as on Denman's boat.' _Cora's mind flashed back a few years to the night that Lewis had been shot. When she had learned for the first time she could _heal_ others with her powers if her body was pushed enough. She'd kept him from bleeding to death that night by absorbing the injury into her own body. She bit her lip as she peered down at him and her chest ached painfully as she realized she couldn't do it this time, _'I'm too late.'_

All she could hear was the pounding rain mixing with the wild thumping of her heart. Anger grew in her. She turned to face who had killed her husband – or rather, what. It was a monster, a demon from Hell in the form of a man. He held up the girl they had bumped into at the store. Three claws stuck clean out her back through her heart. She dangled off the ground dead, transformed into a mermaid by the steadily falling rain.

"Oh, God..." She felt the words slip out of her lips as she took in the scene before her. Her brown eyes met the monster's glowing red ones. It was a burning glare, staring at her as if it were aware of her presence. Her heartbeat grew more rapidly and hard.

_'Not possible... He's… he's aware of me in my vision?!'_

The red eyes blinked. Cora's skin was drenched, her hair dripping, mouth wide opened and filling with tears so fast she thought she might choke. He threw the dead girl away and moved toward her.

"N-no, no … this isn't possible."

It kept coming toward her raising his claw hand back ….

She struggled to catch her breath as she came out of the nightmarish vision, noticing for the first time that rain had started falling. Her eyes wide, she looked around wildly.

_'That girl is a mermaid. She's one of us.' _The realization echoed through her mind hollowly and she had to pause to fight the rising sickness in her, _'We have to protect her, and find her before that thing does.'_

Instinctively, she threw the vehicle into reverse and peeled out backward into the road. Cora turned the wipers on. She had a vague idea of where the two had run off to. Her vision had shown her the road and the alley in which the events of the hallucination would happen, but she would have to arrive there before either Lewis or the girl's deaths occurred.

She slammed the Land Rover into drive and drove off recklessly, spinning the tires on the wet pavement. Cora ran the stop sign and the vehicle slid around the corner, cutting off a blue Honda, almost tipping over on two-wheels.

"Whoops." She muttered, wholly unconcerned. She straightened it out and hit the gas. For a moment the back tires lost traction on the slick pavement and spun in place, spewing a silvery spray of rainwater behind it. The tires finally caught the pavement letting the SUV shoot away. The rain had stopped much to Cora's delight and her eyes darted around, looking for Lewis and the girl. Neither were in sight, but after a few anxious moments she spotted Lewis standing under a street lamp, bent over, breathing hard. Her heart beat faster upon seeing him but she felt only a momentary twinge of relief. Her fear, confusion, and desolation had begun their inevitable change into a bright, hard gem of anger and determination.

_'I'm not letting any of that come true. Not now, not ever again.' _She hissed angrily in her mind. Cora pulled to the curb slamming on the brakes letting the passenger side tires slide and jump the curb. She threw open the door and got out of the Land Rover, leaving the engine running and in park. She hesitated, her hand still holding onto the door and glanced around quickly checking for the demonic stranger from her vision. Her eyebrows furrowed in frustration.

_'He better be out of the way when we find her_,' she thought back to her vision, thinking about the girl and her attacker, _'I'm pretty sure I've had it up to here with people trying to kill everyone around me. He'd better not come near her _or_ us.'_

Lewis stood looking at her with a look of disappointment.

"I lost her." He mumbled, out of breath. Cora hardly paid attention to the words as she felt her legs move. She jumped into Lewis's arms and hugged him fiercely afraid to let go, almost afraid that he would vanish.

"I love you." She buried her face against his neck, trembling hard. As usual, her overpowering fear made her start rambling rapidly, "I-I thought I would be too late! And that you would be gone, and that girl... That thing is going to _destroy_ her."

"Hey, hey… What's the matter? Calm down, breathe. Talk to me." It took more force than he normally would've liked to use to pry her away. He stared at her seriously and she sighed and obeyed; She could feel that he sensed something was upsetting her and she shut her eyes briefly, taking a deep breath to gather her thoughts.

"A vision," Cora gulped trying to calm her nerves. Lewis squeezed her hand, "We have to find that girl, Lewis... If we don't, she's..." She trailed off and let her eyes close again, shuddering as the image of the young blonde dead with claws through her body popped into her mind, "She's screwed."

"What?" Lewis looked at her doubtfully.

"She's one of us. A mermaid—"

"Easy, Cora. There are no more mermaids. It's just you four – you would have seen more if there were."

Cora shook her head, her mind as fuzzy about this as his must have been.

"No, there are two more." She said in a quiet, anxiety-filled voice, "Lewis, I don't know why I couldn't see them before now... it's like they popped out of a completely different dimension. That girl that ran from us is one of the two." She pulled away from Lewis gently and tugged on his arm, indicating for to him to get in the SUV, "I'll explain on the way. We have to hurry before it's too late."

Cora let go of Lewis's hand and ran around the backside of the idling vehicle and jumped back in on the driver side. The second Lewis was inside and the doors were shut, she squealed the tires and pulled a hard U-turn, cutting off the oncoming traffic.

"Jeez, love, are you trying to get us killed?!"

A chill had taken residence in her bones as she sped away. A cold damp dew of sweat broke out across her brow.

"On the contrary. I'm trying to keep everyone _from _being killed." She muttered, staring hard at the road. Lewis caught a small nervous smile twitch onto her lips and felt his own stomach knot: he knew this look.

"What is it?" He asked, his voice calmer now. Cora bit her lip and was silent for a second, trying to figure out the best way to speak about the horror she had seen in her vision.

"She's going to be attacked by a man… but only, he's _not _a man. He's a demon of some sort… I think…"

"A demon?" He questioned, raising his eyebrows. Cora smirked a little but felt her jaw tighten.

"I deal with science, not with demons," She began with a sigh, "I know it sounds crazy, sweetie, but I saw it... It was horrible." Her smirk faltered sadly and Lewis was silent. She kept driving, "There are other magical and paranormal things out there in the world, Lewis... there have to be, and I know you think so, too. Mermaids can't be the only things. Magic exists – it changed us. Somebody else, somewhere, has to be able to use the same kind of supernatural energy... Whether it's for the good or not."

Lewis sighed quietly. He didn't know exactly what she had seen, but it had been a long while since he'd seen his wife this worked up. He opened his mouth to respond, but Cora's voice rang out before he had the chance.

"THERE! He's right there! He's here already!" She exclaimed, making a hard right into an alley.

"_CORA_!" Lewis screamed, putting his hand up against the dash to brace himself. He picked his head up to see what she had spotted, and his eyes met with a man in a black trench-coat standing in the alley, staring into a side-opening in the alleyway – who they were speeding right towards. His eyes buldged, "Cora... _Cora_…" He braced for the impact, they were just a few yards away, "_CORA_!"

She ignored the warnings and waited. Finally, she slammed on the break, blowing the horn. The truck slid into the stranger. He flipped up on the hood of the Land Rover and rolled over the top, falling off the backside. In the span of two heartbeats, Cora saw what she wished she'd never see – his eyes. They were blood-red, just as they had appeared in her vision, slanted like that of an angry cat: they had filled with pure hatred. Recognition hit her as she realized that this was the man who had watched her get into the truck minutes earlier. She turned her head quickly to Lewis, who appeared to be doing his best to keep his heart in his chest. Past him out the window, they could both see a badly injured girl laying in the alleyway.

"It didn't kill him, Lewis," Her voice came out shakier than she would've liked, "Honest. I couldn't have. We need to get her out of here..." She mumbled, almost in a trance as she reached for the door handle. Lewis reached out to stop her.

"Stay in the truck, Cora. It's starting to mist again," Lewis jumped out rushing over to where the girl laid sprawled on the ground, unmoving inside the entrance hall. Things certainly didn't look good. Her mouth and nose were bloodied, a cut in her eyebrow over the right eye bled and she didn't move. He had to lean down close to even see if she was breathing or not, "Hey, there… Are you okay?"

The young woman's eyes opened for a moment and she smiled vaguely up to him.

"Hey, Lewis..." She didn't bother making the effort to move – she doubted she'd be able to anyhow, "You know... You're better looking in real life than in the photos," Her voice was hardly above a whisper at this point, "I've messed up. Tell Heather I'm sorry." Her eyes dipped down a few times before staying closed and her head tilted to the side.

Lewis froze for a second in realization. _Heather_. There was that name again, the name from Cora's visions. He moved quickly and held her up a little more and his heart sank. He noticed the busted lip and the various abrasions littering across her body. His blood boiled. He could not stand the idea of a male physically or mentally assaulting a female, even if it _were_ a demon-male. He repressed his anger for the moment.

"Hey, hey... Don't talk like that," He said gently, trying to keep his voice light, "You can tell her yourself once we get you some help." Lewis doubted the girl actually heard a word he'd said, but it didn't matter. It was then that he noticed something odd at the side of her neck and he reached up, pulling three tiny darts out of her skin. Her eyes flickered opened suddenly and her back arched for a moment as she gasped in pain, "Sorry," Lewis groaned, "Wasn't trying to cause you any more pain, honest. But it kind of looks like these are better _out_ than _in_."

A faint, almost indiscernible smile touched her lips.

"That's okay. I understand."

"Hey, look – you're alive!" Lewis said cheerfully, trying to lighten the dismal mood. He tilted the girl in his arms, half trying to keep her awake and half trying to see the extent of the injuries she'd sustained.

"Is Cora okay?" Her question surprised him but he could see confusion swirling in her darkened eyes. He might never completely understand mermaids, but they had a funny way of making things fall into place.

"Yeah, sure, she's in the truck behind us."

A smile touched her lips for a second or two.

"Don't let her go to… Mako. Not this weekend."

"Yeah, sure, whatever you want." Questions swirled in his mind on how _she_ knew that their group was planning a friendly retreat to Mako over the weekend, but he let it go.

"Promise me... she and Cleo won't go," She struggled for a breath, "They'll be killed."

Lewis froze and frowned, raising an eyebrow. Had he heard this girl correctly? He didn't have a chance to ask before he heard her speak again.

"Not feeling too good." She mumbled. Lewis sighed, helping to prop the girl up against the wall slightly and glanced down at the darts in his hand.

"Probably just a _bug_ you picked up." He muttered, although he suspected it was whatever the three darts had pumped into her veins. She started to laugh but broke into a coughing fit. Lewis noticed the light sprinkle of blood she coughed up and his eyes bugged. This was worse than he had thought.

"Hey, hey… Take it easy, okay?"

"Too late for that I think." The girl muttered before her eyes locked on his for a long second. Her eyes widened and then closed a moment. She bit her lower lips nervously. Lewis blinked, confused.

"'You okay? We should probably get you back to the truck..."

"Yeah, I just… just had a thought that I shouldn't have had."

He laughed a little.

"What's that?" He asked. She tried to laugh again but the coughing took her instead.

"No, Lewis… A girl has got to keep her secrets." The girl's voice was sad, and Lewis noticed the tears gathering in her eyes.

"You're messed up pretty bad."

"Yeah, I think you could say that." Rani stiffened slightly, her back arched as her eyes rolled up and then closed—the tension left the girl's body.

"No, no, no… don't die on me. You have to get back to your friend and tell her how cool Cora and I were to you." He gently jiggled the girl's shoulders, trying to bring her back.

Cora watched Lewis intently from the truck and sensed his sudden panic. The urge to get out and help pulsed hard suddenly, but the drizzling rain kept her confined to the Rover. Just a few drops of the rain would make her transform, and then she would be no good to anyone out of the water in her mermaid persona. She bit her lip as she watched; the girl was in horrible shape, but she could still feel a force coming from her – her soul wasn't gone yet. She sighed in relief, but only for a moment.

"Lewis?" She rolled the window down just enough to still keep the rain out. Her voice called out to her husband, "She's not dead. I think she's just lost consciousness. You need to put her in the backseat. I'm having a bad feeling about staying here for too long. Something's not right about all of this."

He looked back over his shoulder toward her and smiled worriedly.

"Yeah, I have a bad feeling about this place as well." A few seconds passed. He moved around to position himself in the best way possible to lift the young girl, "All right, we need to get moving."

He picked the girl up as carefully as he could and turned. Cora's body immediately perked up and she quickly unbuckled her seat-belt, twisting around on her knees inside the vehicle. She reached for the back door and tugged the handle, letting it open a crack. Lewis caught the door with his knee and pushed it opened the rest of the way, noticing the rain had letting up again. He laid the stranger down on the backseat as carefully as he could with Cora's help.

Cora stared down at the girl sadly, her lips twitching down into a frown. She groaned slightly, hearing sirens wail in the distance. Lewis shut the door hurriedly. He rounded the front of the Land Rover, and glanced at the still motionless attacker of the girl when he reached the passenger-side door. He looked down at the three spent darts in his hand.

"What the hell did you pump her full of?" He muttered, frustrated. He lingered a moment, but knowing there would be no answer he quickly climbed into the truck. It was then that the rain started coming down more heavily again. He turned to face Cora, "Let's get out of here."

"The police are coming." Cora tried to smile as she eased the gear of the truck into drive, telling Lewis what she knew he'd already known.

"Exactly."

BAM!

A bullet smashed through the center of the windshield. Cora turned and reacted, hitting the gas. The stranger she'd hit earlier had come to his senses. He stood and somehow had managed to maneuver himself to the front of their vehicle. He pointed a gun at them.

"The first was a warning! The _second_—" He never finished the threat. The LR2 came so fast at him he had no choice but to dive out of the way. The truck clipped his ankle and spun him into the wall roughly. Lewis spun in his seat, looking over his shoulder and then back to Cora.

"How the heck did he get in front of us?!"

"_Demons_, Lewis, Demons! I didn't even see him move, the little..." She trailed off, her eyes darting around with heightened alertness. Lewis groaned and shut his eyes briefly as he confirmed that what she had explained earlier was in fact, true.

"Me either. And this is why I prefer science." He muttered quietly, the corner of his mouth turning up into an distracted smirk. Their eyes locked for a moment and neither spoke for the next couple of seconds. Lewis finally broke the silence, "I don't think he'll be dancing anytime soon on that ankle."

"Did I break it?"

"Yeah, I imagine you did. He's not going to be standing too well for at least the next few days." He said, glancing out the window again. Cora's face lit up with a satisfied grin.

"_Good_!"

Lewis's mouth dropped opened in surprise at her uncharacteristic response. She looked at him for a quick second and quickly justified herself, "Well, if you had _seen_ what I saw—"

"Cora, you're turning into _Rikki!_" His eyebrows raised and a bewildered, shocked smirk played confusedly upon his face. Cora did not reply, but she stared straight ahead as she drove, her cheeks hot with anger. She reached the end of the alley and took a hard left. They slid sideways on the wet street and the back end of the SUV swung around to the right and in mere moments she had the vehicle straightened out and on its way. Rocketing eastward, Cora angled them onto the wrong side of the two-lane road.

"Uh, Cora, sweetie, I know this isn't the right time to complain about your driving and all, but we are…uh… absolutely on the wrong side of the road."

"_What_?!"

"You're on the wrong side of the road!"

She swung back across the center line, into the correct lane. She was still picking up speed, moving fast, too fast.

"I swear, I will _never_ get used to that!" She groaned loudly, yelling at herself.

"Where did you learn to drive like this?" Lewis laughed nervously.

"California," She shot back, "So buckle up."

Cora's senses were heightened by terror and once more, her Protector mode had kicked into full gear. She knew on some level that this incident wasn't over yet. She breathed hard and her ears were filled with the hard drumming of her own heartbeat. The rain started to fall much harder now and she frowned angrily. This weather was strange, and she had no doubts that something _unnatural_ was causing it to fall.

"Cora… you're going too fast."

Startled, she let her foot slip off the accelerator, remembering the girl in the back seat.

"Where can we go from here?" She asked herself quietly.

"Home." Lewis replied simply.

"No, we can't. Not yet. They'll follow us."

"Who?"

"The _Demonhunters.._." the whisper came from the back seat. Surprised, Lewis shot a look to the backseat, their friend had come to, "They're Shapeshifters. Bad creatures; they're used mainly to retrieve items or things… Sometimes people."

"They were after you? Why?" Lewis questioned curiously.

"Probably because of my association with Eric and Heather."

"Who are Heather and Eric?" He tried to smile but it wouldn't come. The name Heather was getting more and more significant every minute, "And what's your name, anyhow?"

"Holly Marshall... but I use _Rani_ Marshall when I'm here in the past. Heather and Eric are my friends."

"The past? I don't understand."

"It's complicated to explain…"

"Lewis…" Cora's voice drew his attention away from Rani. Lewis gave his wife a quick glance, "She's fading on us." Cora's words were soft and low, but he could tell that she was serious. He frowned; Rani's eyes were closed once more.

"Has she slipped back to being unconscious again?"

"No… I'm still conscious; for now any way." Rani opened her eyes. Lewis could tell sickness was rapidly growing in her, "But let me talk. I can feel the darkness trying to take me. Head to a cemetery… its Holy ground. A demon can't attack there. W-why, I don't know... I'm still new to all of this. Maybe the wrath of God would come down on them if they did? The Demonhunters can only hold their form for about two, two-and-a-half hours in our plane of reality. We can wait him out there. They dissipate and return to their own reality when the time's up."

"Well, _that's _reassuring." Lewis mumbled.

"Let her rest, Lewis." Cora urged gently. He nodded and turned back around in his seat. A moment or two passed, and he and Cora looked back to their guest and found her to be unconscious. Cora turned away feeling even more determined to leave the area than ever. She could feel an unimaginable evil chasing after them, both silent and invisible. The tires shrieked. Cora hit the accelerator, knowing just how to get to the nearest cemetery—she just hoped Lewis wouldn't freak out over the one she chose.

Lewis shut and said a silent prayer.

_'God, I could use a little help with her driving, if you don't mind...' _He opened his eyes after a moment more and just started at her, studying the look on her face.

"It's not over is it? The vision… You didn't tell me the whole truth about it, did you?"

"I did. But no, it's not over. Not by a long shot."

Lewis glanced briefly to the backseat where Rani lay. She hadn't moved since slipping back into the darkness of her mind. Her face still stayed the same ghostly white it had been when they found her in the foyer of the alley. He sighed quietly, muttering to the person who wouldn't hear him.

"What did he _do_ to you?"

~~OOOOooo~o0o~**End of Chapter 9**~o0o~oooOOOO~~

I hope this chapter has perked everyone's interest. The **Demonhunters** are my own creation and more will be revealed later in coming chapters. I love to hear everybody's thought about this chapter—too long? Too confusing? Was there too much for one chapter? Anyone has any thoughts/ideas/suggestions they like to pass on? We love reviews. Writers live on reviews, the more, the merrier. Love to get at least five or seven for this chapter. Hope everyone had a happy and safe Thanksgiving Holiday.

Thank-you for your patience in the time it took to post this chapter. There was a lot I had to squeeze in. Hoped you enjoyed. Reviews are most welcomed.

**P.S. **Everyone should read Kaattee's H2O story **Full Moon Rising**—Chapter 13 promises to be an out-and-out tear jerker. No spoilers told here. But I will say the entire story is GREAT!


	11. Mayko Island

This may start out slow but I think the ending is well worth the wait. Thanks Kaattee for putting up with me and my moods during the write.

**The Sertori Sisters' Secret**

Authors: Kaattee/ParadoxTremors

**Chapter 1:** It has the short Synopsis of the story, this chapter, and a short bio about each character.

**Chapter 10: **(Mako Island)

**Present day ….**

The research vessel Tailspin left the protective harbor of the Gold Coast on a direct heading to Mako Island. She carried Dr. Denman, the minimum crew needed to run the vessel efficiently, and her two VIP passengers.

Heather faith Dangerfield drew her arms around herself as she stood alone at the stern of the boat. Her blonde hair fluttered in the humid cool breeze as the ocean spray hit her when the bow dipped. Their ship was running a slow four knots toward their destination.

'_There's something different about the ship.'_

She felt a sudden coolness, more of a feeling rather than an actual physical coldness, with it the certain knowledge eyes were on her suddenly. Heather was sure she was not alone in the night. She saw no movement around her and she was unaware of any sound other than the expected sounds of their movement through the saltwater ocean, her own breathing, and her thudding heartbeat; only instinct told her she had company. Heather was not alarmed—in fact a small smile touched her lips. She looked over toward her left expectantly.

"Hello, Cora. I was beginning to wonder when ya would appear." Her "friend" appeared out of the shadows almost as if she were a part of the inky darkness itself. Her color changed gradually from the ebony blackness of the darkness to the ghostly grayish-white of her normal haunting-self. Cora paused a moment, standing there in her vaporous form as if she were thinking before moving up alongside Heather. Her lower extremities beneath the knees slowly faded away into nothingness. The closer the vessel came to the area of her demise, the less corporal her form seemed to hold, "You're okay?"Heather's heart pounded as Cora moved closer to her side. She was use to seeing and interacting with ghosts and spirits, but never, _ever_ had she found a friendship in one like she had with Cora—this was all new to her.

"Yes." The calm murmur came from Cora. Heather shifted her weight to compensate for the slight heel to the starboard side of the boat. It was quiet.

'_This was my time to think._ _Nothing for me to worry about but the moment at hand…' _In less than eighteen hours, Holly and she had left Alabama and flown to Sydney, making various stops along the way. They were then picked up by members of Dr. Denman's crew at the airport and arrived in town late in the evening; thirty minutes later they were heading out of the marina.

"You're me, and I'm you, but in different realities." Heather tried to shake loose Cora's mesmerizing eyes, but found she could not. '_Her eyes have the same hypotonic stare as mine do…'_

"You're beginning to get it." Cora answered with a quiet giggle.

"The dream, about Dr. Denman and the sinking of the ship a few years back… and I suppose that was _Lewis _being shot… that really happened for you, didn't it?" Heather asked. Cora nodded, and Heather continued, "The trance ya fell under … the _force_ that took you over, could it have been … _me_ somehow? I mean could I have reached out to you a-and--"

Cora shrugged her shoulders.

"Helped? I don't know… maybe. Even now, I can't be sure of what I did that night. Something _did_ push me to go beyond my abilities when he was shot… Maybe it was the love I had for Lewis that did it, or maybe it was you… or maybe it was both."

"Were _we_ that connected to one another that we could have influenced--?"

"I am here in your reality, haunting you… I guess that means anything is possible."

Heather was uncomfortable. The closer they drew to the island the more her stomach tightened and knotted. She let a hand slip down to her abdomen.

'_C'mon, settle down. It's going to be okay ... it's not like I'm pregnant again. There's nothing major to worry about out here. Besides, what could go wrong?'_

"I can feel it." The sudden whisper from Holly startled her. Heather turned to face her friend who had walked up behind her. Holly's stealth and uncanny cat-like movement always amazed her—it was a trait she'd learned during their time in the Land of the Lost. Heather smiled.

"Feel what, Cora?"

"Huh?" Holly asked, confused. Heather quickly realized her mistake and her face fell.

"Nothing, Holly … as you were saying?"

"The crystals and the doorway … the closer we get, the more I can feel them." Holly said. Heather took a deep breath. "They're out there, on the island I mean. It's all really going to be there. I can feel it here in my heart." She pointed her hand to her chest.

"We've found _The Land of the Lost_ again but without the usage of the time doorways. It came to us instead."

Heather lost the smile. Cora had disappeared. Her stomach had eased up settling down. She chewed nervously on her lip, staring off into space but a moment. In the distant, inside her mind, she could hear the faint rhythm sounds of crystals pulsing on a stone matrix table. "It's like a soft, gentle pull …."

"You can feel it too, can't you?" Holly smiled wryly feeling relieved she wasn't going crazy.

Heather nodded. Her psyche pictured a dark cavernous room with glowing, throbbing precious stones arranged neatly inside a granite pedestal. The world in her vision turned gray, colorless, and very depressing. Her dreams were always in color.

"It's like the place is welcoming us back _home_."

"T-that's not exactly good if it can sense our presence, can it?" Holly couldn't see through the tears forming in her eyes.

"No, I don't think so." Heather answered without a touch of emotion in her voice. She hardly ever had visions of happiness or of birth; instead, they always seemed to be forewarning of tragedy, "It's never good to have a _place_ waiting for you to come back."

"That's why it let us go in the first place. _It _understood we would have to return to get _me _back home." Holly blew her nose on a handkerchief she drew out of her back pocket, "It could wait … time was on its side, it always has been."

"Yeah." Heather could see disaster coming; exactly what, she couldn't tell just yet, but all the same, it scared her—the unknown always did.

"Oh, that's just freaking wonderful." Holly gnashed her teeth. "Can't we ever catch a break?"

"We just got to be careful and expect the unexpected." Heather responded, shaking her head. The long blonde hair flowed around her shoulder with her movement. Her face was as unyielding as stone.

"Yeah, right … it's easier said than done."

"You look a little spooked, Holly." There was apprehension in Heather's voice.

"Is it that obvious?"

"Yeah, it is just a bit."

Holly sighed and looked at Heather.

"Are you?"

"Yes." The low whisper came back from Heather. Her heart beat fretfully.

"But you hide it so well."

"It comes with a lot of practice," Heather put her hand to her head, feeling her blood pulse—the sure sign a migraine was coming on.

"Headache?"

Heather smiled. She knew Holly was beginning to know her too well. She rubbed her face vigorously and pushed back her hair.

"Probably a migraine, but hopefully it's not a bad one."

"Yeah, sure, _migraines_ are not always bad, are they." Holly's brow creased in a grimace; her words were spoken sarcastically.

"I mean for me, okay?" Heather snapped, her eyes shooting to Holly's.

"Ohoookay, sorry." Holly replied toward her irritably. Not liking Heather's gaze, heat rose to her cheeks. Heather's face softened.

"Sorry, didn't mean to sound so harsh."

They heard the bridge's door open and a man stepped out. They turned to face the stranger.

"Uh, ladies, Dr. Denman said she's ready down below."

"Okay. We'll be right down." Heather could not make out the man's face, but she knew he was a recent hire. It was strange and it felt a little disconcerting to know that Dr. Denman's first mate, Andy Kinsley, had not made the trip—no word given as to why. She took a deep breath.

'_Something has been changed about the ship… or added on,"_ Her mind drifted back to the dream she'd had about Cora and her friends when they escaped their Dr. Denman's ship in a storm, '_It's something about the addition of a secret room?'_Her eyes glanced toward Holly and noticed the man's message had made her shoulders tense. Heather reached out with her hand and touched Holly's.

"I'm here," she whispered. "Always will be if God's willing." Holly took Heather's offer and squeezed, hard, holding tight to her. Her eyes returned the glance nervously.

"Thanks." Her voice quivered quietly. "I need for you to be there with me. I don't want to be left alone with her."

"Okay, I won't."

"You promised you wouldn't, remember?"

"I remember." Heather laughed silently feeling the trembling in her friend's hand.

'_Something about Elisha unsettles Holly. I wish I knew why and what I could do to calm her nerves…'_

"Can I hold your hand till we get below?" Holly asked sheepishly.

"Sure, ya know ya can." Heather answered. Her tone was filled with concern. '_What is it she senses that I don't?' _She unexpectedly pulled her other hand back to her abdomen and cringed. It felt as if something inside her had moved.

'_Maybe she senses the truth about Dr Denman...' _The familiar voice of Cora filtered into Heather's mind.

'_Cora!' _Heather hissed irritably inside her head, '_Elisha is not _your_ Dr. Denman; she's different.'_

'_I wouldn't be so sure, Heather. I've seen the things that you haven't.'_

'_Cora, until you can prove otherwise, I don't want to hear any more of your nonsense about Elisha. She's a good friend. She helped deliver Noël.' _

'_Of course she did – what better way to learn about mermaids?'_

"Heather?"

The sound of her name on Holly's lips sent a cold shiver down her spine.

"What? Oh, sorry…"

"I think you spaced out on me for a second or two."

"I-I think I did." Heather sighed in annoyance. The pain in her lower stomach had slipped away once more. Her hand nervously tugging Eric's game jersey that she wore. Her eyes met Holly's. "Let's get this done and over with shall we?"

Holly nodded and they both moved toward the stranger and into the opened door as a bright flash of lightning lit the entire sky momentarily. Thunder rumbled angrily across the heavens. Heather shivered, not so much from cold air, but from a sense of uneasiness_._ She caught Holly's eyes. They appeared black, like onyx mirrors, catching the flash of the lightning and gleamed unnaturally. Then she turned her head—Heather sighed.

'_I hope the storm's not forewarning of any coming trouble.'_

Holly began the descent down the stairs, grimacing, fighting the terror building in her. Her heart beat rabbit-fast and cold sweat broke over her body.

"I-I can't do this."

She stopped feeling Heather's hand squeezing hers. "It's okay. I'm right here. Nothing's going to happen to you."

Holly looked back over her shoulder toward Heather. She smiled, forcing down the rising panic, concentrating on her breathing until she felt less shaky.

"Why am I acting like this?"

"It's probably because you've never _changed_ in front of anybody other than me; not even in front of Stephen, Eric, or much less your brother Will." Heather tried to give her a reassuring smile, "Dr. Denman will be the first to ever witness you changing."

Holly frowned.

"Just great - a peep show. That's going to be so weird."

"How so?" A slight look of confusion dipped across Heather's face.

"I mean, we're always careful not to let anyone see us with our tail and now I'm going to change _on purpose_ in front of someone."

"Not someone, Holly, it is Dr. Denman."

"Yeah, just the person I wanted to change in front of for the first time."

Heather sighed.

"Look, if you're that unnerved about this I can tell her not to worry about it, and she won't do it."

Holly shook her head.

"No, it's okay. It's important we do it. She might be able to figure out why I keep having this constant _buzzing_ in the back of my head since the change took us."

"Maybe? I can't promise that she can."

Holly nodded, stepped off the steps onto the bottom floor, and then glanced back at Heather; a worried look on her face.

"Let's get this over with … I need my beauty sleep," she muttered the last part in a whisper half-jokingly, hoping to disguise her fear.

She turned, tightening her grip on Heather's hands. In a few seconds they made it to Dr. Denman's lab. Holly knocked—her hand was shaking. She took a deep breath. Her chest ached, "I'm not telling her about my ability with electricity … or my trick of releasing locks."

"Okay."

Holly wouldn't turn around to stare at Heather when she replied.

"Do you understand what I'm saying?" She asked. Heather remained quiet, "You don't have to come in with me."

"I won't let ya go alone." Heather answered politely, but the undertone of her voice was distinctly forceful.

"Yes, you can. I'll be fine."

"I made a promise. I _won't _let ya go inside alone."

"DON'T!" Anger spilt from Holly for a moment. She turned to Heather. "Please—"

"Holly, I can't. I don't go back on my promises." Holly looked at her friend with a hard frown. Heather reached out, touching her on the side of the face. Next, Heather let her other hand touched the wooden door. Holly felt a strange, mild tingling shock to her temple. Her eyes widened for a split-second. Puzzlement then understanding shot through her eyes as the whisper of a subliminal song danced through her mind. Heather removed her hand from Holly's face, "Forget...forget about what I just did." Holly's face crumpled. Her hand shook for a few seconds. She let her hand reach up and touch where Heather's fingers had been.

"Heather?"

"I'll explain later. But for now ya must forget this moment. Erase it from your memory. It's important to our survival … and returning you to your family and time."

"Home?"

"Yes."

"But—"

"I've never had anyone to resist my power of suggestion as you are doing; but ya must trust me, believe I am doing what is best in our interest … and the world. If not, Enik's and my world will be destroyed."

Holly looked shocked.

"The Land of the Lost, destroyed?"

"I promise to explain it all to ya when this is over."

"You promise?"

"Yes." Heather promised. Holly closed her eyes.

"Okay … I trust you with all my heart, y'know."

Heather touched Holly's temple once more.

"When you open your eyes again, you will not remember what I have done here. Erase the memory and keep your voice low until we enter Dr. Denman's office."

"Erase the memory." Holly's voice trembled in a low, scared and soft voice.

"Yes. And when you open your eyes, you will not remember this conversation. You will forget. We will pick back up about my keeping my _promises_." Heather pulled back her hand.

"Open your eyes."

Holly opened her eyes and for an instant confusion shot across her face—it took her a few moments before she could speak.

"Heather, I can handle this. You don't have to go in with me. I'm fine. Honest."

"You know me. I can't. It's not in me." Heather shrugged nonchalant. "I promised my mom once, before she died, to never break any of my promises to anyone—that includes you."

They stared at each other a moment and remained quiet. Holly turned away and banged harder on the door. Heather could tell by Holly's eyes she was fighting a battle quietly on the inside

_Didn't my suggestion take root?'_

Holly shook her head in frustration to clear it of the background chatter.

"C'mon, doc, you can't be deaf." She banged harder. In that moment, the door opened with Dr. Elisha Denman standing on the other side ….

-

Dr. Elisha Denman stood looking out watching as twilight drifting down over Mako Island. A crescent moon hung above the ragged cone of the dead volcano. Storm clouds were gathering in the east like an ominous dark blight. Lightning flashed fiercely lighting up the horizon.

She heard the first knock and started to turn—then paused. Her eyes went blank for a second; something whispered to her to forget about the knock.

_Just watch the island,_ the voice spoke in her mind_. Forget the first knock._

Elisha turned back to Mako. Something about the majestic beauty of the island calmed her; brought a sense of peace to her. But the second rapping brought her out of her thoughts. She sighed, turning, and started toward the door. Her mind cleared as if it had been in a fog.

'_Finally,'_ she thought. '_What took them so long?_ _Just knock the door down why don't you…' _She pulled the door open and waved the two girls in. The one named Holly came into the room from the hall first followed by Heather—they left the door stand open behind them. Heather spoke first.

"Are you using the scrambler?"

Dr. Denman walked back to her desk and laid her notes down and smiled.

"Yes. We can't run the risk of the government detecting our tests." She stepped passed the girls and shut the door. "That's why we can't slip up and leave the door open." She caught the look Holly shot Heather before looking at her. "The government runs routine checks for PSI or magical energies with their low orbital satellites. Although they _officially_ deny the existence of such nonsense they do search for it in hope of gaining a tactical advantage over their perceived enemies."

Holly looked nauseatingly back to Heather.

"They … they can detect our psychic energies?"

"In a manner of speaking, Holly; if the instruments are adjusted and set for the right weather and atmospheric conditions they can detect the lowest emission of such power." Heather expression was impassively cold. "But it's more of a crapshoot for them—there have been a million more failures than there ever been successful hits."

"Have they ever--?"

Dr. Denman nodded. "Once, back in 1979, '80, we believe they made a find. It was rumored the U.S. Government held a father and his child. The father was a drunk who had lost his abilities but the child … they called her a _fire-starter."_

"What happened?"

"The experiments got out of control."

"Out of control, how?"

"Holly," Heather spoke soberly. "The official government account was the child, Charlie, lost control over her powers when her father died in a freak riding accident. She went crazy and burnt the whole place down to the ground. She killed everybody including herself."

"I-I don't believe that." Holly shook her head. "H-how old was Charlie?"

"We believe she was seven or eight." Heather sighed. "I think they were trying to escape their captivity. Her father was killed and in protecting herself, Charlie might've lost control of her powers."

"Things were so much simpler in my times." Holly mumbled unable to speak above a whisper.

"Yes, your world still had their innocence."

"Yeah, it would seem."

"With the situation as it is at our end," Dr. Denman started, "I took the precaution of arranging the tests to coincide with the approaching storm instead of waiting till the early morning hours of tomorrow."

Holly paced, stopped after a few steps, put her hands in her cut-offs pockets, and then took them out again.

"This room smells."

Dr. Denman watched Heather laugh for a few seconds.

"Sorry, Holly, your comment just caught me off guard."

Holly's cheeks flashed with a tinge of red as she looked irritably at her friend.

"I will need blood and urine sample first." Dr. Denman broke the uncomfortable silence.

"You have to?" Holly asked a vague trace of anxiety in her voice. Elisha nodded.

"I'm afraid there's more. I have to have blood samples both before and after the transformation."

Holly's eyes widened as she looked questionably to Heather.

"You didn't say… I _hate_ needles."

"It's okay."

"Heather?" Holly's eyes begging.

"I went through the same tests. She won't perform anything on ya she didn't do on me. The blood work is just routine procedure."

"What did she find?" Heather bit her lower lip. Impatiently, she added. "I suppose nothing was found."

"No, she discovered no abnormalities in my workup. Nothing to suggest I can metaphor into a mermaid. Nothing to suggest I am an oddity."

Dr. Denman handed Holly a small jar.

"If you please, I will need for you to go into the bathroom there and collect me a little of your urine."

Holly nodded her head, taking the plastic container.

"Okay."

Denman watched as Holly went into the bathroom closing the door behind. Heather sat on a high, white stool at the head of the examination table, and hooked one of her heels on the single rung. She could tell a million and one question was racing through the girl's head.

"Heather, I have one question for you while we wait." She spoke, not sure if she was overstepping her place. Heather looked up. Somber, almost reverent, she spoke.

"Yes?"

"You used the _Ring _before coming here, correct?"

"Yes." Heather lifted her eyes questionably toward her. "And …?"

"No _tsunami_ occurred like the first time."

"Oh, that …" Heather paused letting a weak smile momentarily flash across her lips. "There were several abnormalities happening when we first tested the machine that didn't exist this last time."

"Abnormalities?"

Heather laughed for a few moments.

"Yes, but this is neither the place nor the time to discuss this matter."

Elisha opened her mouth but closed it as Holly came out of the restroom. She held up the half-filled container. A look of disgust hung on her face.

"Here's your bottle of pee, Dr. Denman." Holly handed her the warm bottle.

"Holly!" Heather's face turned bright red bringing out the few freckles sprinkled across her cheeks. Holly turned looking back at her friend.

"What? Did I do something wrong?"

"No, but I think you've been hanging out in my time for far too long."

It hit Holly then on how she had phrased her last statement.

"Phat rat, daddy would've been mad with my choice of words I think."

Heather and Holly laughed for a few seconds as if it was their own private little joke. Dr. Denman shook her head and set the specimen inside a refrigerator unit and turned back to the two girls.

"I need for you to hop up on the examination table, Ms. Marshall."

"It's Holly; call me Holly… please."

She caught the smile flashing across Heather's face. Heather's reaction gave her the inkling Holly didn't usually let strangers call her by her first name.

"Okay, Holly, please sit up on the table so we can begin. I will draw out some blood first and then Heather will help me attach some sensors across your body. If at any time you become uncomfortable or want us to stop just give me the word and we will stop."

Holly nodded visibly uncomfortably, turned and sat as instructed. Dr. Denman came over and very careful swabbed Holly's arm before pricking her with a needle. She quickly withdrew three small tubes of blood, removed the needle, and then labeled the blood samples. Once more she went back to the refrigerator unit and set the blood inside a holding case.

"If you will lie down on your back Heather and I can attach the sensors to your body."

Holly's eyes flashed toward Heather.

"It's okay, Holly. She needs to record the readings of your body during the change."

Holly nodded. Heather and Dr. Denman started the slow task of placing the wires and sensors around her body. Heather unbuttoned Holly's shirt and spread it opened to begin the process of attaching the wires to her abdomen and chest area. Elisha smiled.

"You're doing fine. Your respiration and pulse are a bit elevated, but that's expected with the nervousness."

Holly laughed timidly.

"When do I change?"

"Just be patient with us, Holly. We have to make sure everything is connected properly. If it's not, the reading would come out wrong and inaccurate."

"No, we wouldn't want that would we." Holly's smile dissipated almost immediately. She hated that she had agreed to do this.

"Tell me what happened. Sometimes, by talking we can relieve our fears a bit."Denman placed a hand on Holly's shoulder. Holly pushed her hand away.

"No, what good will it do? It happened. We're stuck as mermaids. Nothing can change that."

Heather stood taking one of Holly's hands into hers.

"Tell it to me, please. You've never told _me_ the story. I was unconscious during most of that time when we were first cursed with the disease."

Holly shook her head.

"There's nothing to tell. We were turned into mermaids. We were lucky we both didn't drown, end of story."

"Please. I need to hear it."

"N-no … I don't want to talk about it. Not now, not ever." But her mouth kept moving and she began to talk despite her determination not to.

Dr. Denman understood what was happening. Holly replayed those awful moments again and again in her mind not realizing she was actually telling them every detail of the event. Holly saw Heather and herself being drawn back down into the swimming hole by the Sleestaks in The Land of the Lost. She told of the frustration and rage that filled her in fighting against the creatures, struggling for her and Heather's freedom—then the sudden surprise of being released only to be attacked by what they learned later was called the Altrusian Lykánthropos Fish. The small school of fish somehow magically transferred some of their characteristics into the girls, changing them into mermaids with various abilities and talents.

Holly paused, looking toward Heather, her face becoming slightly paler.

"She got most of the gifts. I suppose because she's been a psychic most of her life. Me, I was normal and ordinary, I was given only a touch of the possibilities that might've been obtainable."

Dr. Denman smiled, glancing a second at Heather before drawing her eyes back to Holly. When Holly had spoke, she sounded stiffer, a slight glaze look fell over her eyes.

"Holly?"

Holly blinked.

"Huh?"

"You sounded as if you'd …." Dr. Denman's voice drifted off.

"As if I'd what?" Holly looked genuinely baffled.

"Sad. Upset the whole thing had happened." Denman lied. '_It sounds like you've been programmed with that little speech my precious little Merbitch…'_

Holly titled her head and looked down a few seconds.

"I just want a normal life... to be back with my dad and Will. I want to belong; to be normal again."

She understood Holly was homesick; scared. And despite the continuous reassurance from _Heather_, she was feeling very alone and cut off from everything she knew …

… And this knowledge brought a hidden smile to Dr. Denman. Perhaps this was the seed she could use to tear them apart.

**The Next Day ….**

At five-thirty Saturday morning, Heather Faith Dangerfield and Holly Marshall stepped foot on the beach of Mako Island for the first time. Both felt a strange sense of relief. They stood on opposite sides of the skiff and looked at each other—in the instant their eyes met Holly suffered a panic attack.

Holly was overcome by a sense of dread so severe she felt the plummeting sensation of falling from a great height into a bottomless pit. She screamed, afraid. Not hearing Heather come running to her side.

"Holly! Holly!"

Her sense of falling did not abate.

"Daddy, daddy, I'm falling. I'm falling!"

"No no no no."Heather grabbed and held her. "You're not falling. It's okay. I got ya."

Holly struggled blindly not realizing it was her friend that held her.

"Daddy, daddy, the Sleestaks … they have me. Help, daddy!"

"No no no, I got ya, Holly." Heather struggled to hold on. Holly was now fully panicking. "It's okay. It's me, Heather."

"No, let go of me."

In that moment Heather's heart thumped hard with fright. She understood Holly's struggling was carrying them backward toward the water's edge.

"Holly, don't, you'll make us go into the water. If you submerge us fully, we'll have our tails."

Holly didn't listen. They fell into the water but did not go completely under. Heather stood dragging Holly back to her feet pausing—It was then that she heard an unwelcome noise. Heather panicked; drawing upon her powers she shoved, throwing Holly ashore and turned acting instinctively calling upon her psychic energies.

Her power crackled, popping, changing, and pulling into physical forms of twin translucent black energy blades of razor-sharpness. They gave the impression of pulsing in and out of existence in a slow, wavering, and disturbing way--she could feel the exhilarating surge of power. Feel the extension of her psychic force flowing out to form into the sharp edges.

Each weapon pulsed rhythmically in sync with her heart. The cold cobalt beauty of their blades held perfect balance. Their design lay conceived and composed surreptitiously in her soul. Ancient like-runes lie etched into the spiritual energies of each sword's surface. An ebony-blue swirling haze shimmered entwining within each symbol and character. It moved like blood through veins.

Heather felt a sudden single paper-thin scratch cut across her forearm—she reacted. Her weapons found flesh as she sidestepped the attacking shark at the last possible moment. Heather bit back the scream, watching as death claimed the animal. One of her corporeal blades had decapitated its head—blood and organs spilt everywhere.

Seconds passed. Silence.

Unconsciously Heather stuck out a finger and traced the intricate delicate vapors of the sword in the other hand. Her finger lingered over the complex masterful micro-cords that laced together to form the protective barrier that held the energy together. It never ceased to amaze her how well her psychic powers had developed over the years under the tutelage of her husband and his sister, Lila.

In the next heartbeat a second monster surfaced.

"No no no, this can't be happening;" she shrieked in disbelief. "Sharks don't attack mermaids."

Her heart pumped hard. She could almost feel the building fury of the animal within her mind. A poignant smile flickered at the corner of her mouth.

'_I won't die like the others_—' images of Cora's lifeless body lying on the beach plagued her mind for an instant_, 'It won't happen to me or Holly.'_

The animal bit at her and she dodged managing to snap off a one-two routine down the animal's side. The swords sliced deep, killing it instantly, spilling the shark's inners into the warm waters of the Pacific—she could feel the uneasy awareness of her weapons drinking in the spiritual essence of the animal's soul as it died.

Predators for miles around smelt the offering of an easy prey. Heather screamed. Her face was livid. The unbearable throbbing of her head made her lose conscious thought for a moment—her weapons disappeared, imploding inward, shattering into the nothing it came from. She could sense the approach of other predators. She moved, fast; hitting the shore screaming, grabbing the startled Holly and carried her further on to the safety of the beachhead. They both fell into the sand, each moving to watch the violent frenzy.

Holly buried her head into Heather's neck.

"Make it stop. Make it stop, Heather!"

"I-I can't. It's out of my control." Her voice came out tight and low. Her eyes stayed glued to the bloodbath before widening in terror—she shook her head in horrifying disbelief. One of the mammoth sharks turned from the feeding frenzy and leapt out of the water toward the beach. In mid-flight, it twisted, shook, and transformed into a man landing and falling to a knee. He looked up. An angry scowl of hatred marred his face as he stood, staring at the two of them.

"NO FREAKING WAY!" Heather turned, shaking Holly hard. "Get to the jungle and hide. I'll meet you there after I've dealt with our guest."

Holly looked up red-eyed seeing the stranger.

"It's a Demonhunter. Here on Mako? What the freak for?!"

"I don't know." Heather grabbed Holly dragging her up to her feet, "You have to go, NOW!"

Holly staggered back from Heather's push. She sucked in her breath and put her hand over her heart, feeling as if she would faint. This was all too incredibly to believe.

"Run, Holly!" Heather screamed. Holly obeyed and turned, stumbling, racing for the imaginary protection of the tropical forest. Heather turned, slipping in the sand, and falling to a knee.

'_Damn.' _She looked up, surprised. He was on her, attacking.

Heather met the attack of the Demonhunter. Her mystical blades formed the instant she understood the danger. She crisscrossed the two swords, stopping the giant battleaxe of the intruder's inches above her head ….

~~OOOOooo~o0o~**End of Chapter 10**~o0o~oooOOOO~~

I had to end it there. If I didn't this might've stretched out another 2 or 3,000 words. A lot of information stuffed in. Some good, some not so—It seems Heather is trying to manipulate people and their actions for reasons yet unexplained.

Love to hear comments, thoughts, or whatever—writers love to hear what people think of their work. We LOVE reviews.

I got a great surprise for those of you who love Kaattee's writing. I have convinced her to write a scene for us in an upcoming chapter, you DON'T want to miss it! It's incredibly good.

13 | Page


	12. The Cemetery and the Infamous Moon Pool

**A/N:** A word of **caution,**violence and talk of rape ahead. If it bothers you, please be aware that you've been warned. And a reminder that "Max Hamilton" name in this altered-history story of the H2O Just Add Water/Land of the Lost Crossover is "Max Thomas." He was killed by Dr. Linda Denman with the use of cyanide in her attempt to destroy Cleo, Rikki, Emma, and Cora years before these events took place (See Kaattee's story, **Full Moon Rising,**for full details).

As promised in my notes from last chapter **Kaattee** has graciously written parts/sections of this chapter. For those of you who have followed her writing will probably instantly recognize her style and what section she has written—she has just finished working on **Full Moon Rising** which is the continuation of **Belonging.**

Anyway, this is by far the longest chapter of the story. Hope you enjoy. And with no further delays, we give you Chapter 11 ….

**The Sertori Sisters' Secret**

Authors: Kaattee/ParadoxTremors

**Chapter 1:** It has the short Synopsis of the story, this chapter, and a short bio about each character.

**Chapter 11:**(The Cemetery and the infamous Moon Pool)

**June 30th ….**

The rain fell harder. Cora's heart pounded furiously as she drove the SUV through the back alleys and crossroads until she split out onto the main highway. She turned left again onto the street blowing the horn as she headed into the intersection. She'd seen what the Demonhunters could do in her vision and she wanted no part of it. Lewis was seated next to her in the passage side leaning against the door biting down hard on a fingernail. His eyes were spread wide in anxiety fearful probably because of the apparent reckless abandonment in her driving.

'_I won't hit anyone, be thankful for that, Lewis…' _Cora thought.

The streets were filled with cars, cabs, and trucks, and on the sidewalk people hurried in throngs, breathing in the smoky exhaust of the automobiles unaware of the danger racing by.

Cora used the rear-view mirror to look in on their passenger in the backseat. Rani—or rather, Holly Marshal—was stretched out across the back seat in considerable pain. She'd been passing in and out of consciousness for the pass several minutes. The bumping and rough driving of hers didn't help the youngster's injuries in the least bit and she was aware of that, but she had to get them away from the demons—Holly needed medical help.

Her experience with driving through California traffic helped her avoid hitting the red Nissan and the grey Ford F150 as she sped through the junction, zigzagging. Their vehicle skidded momentarily across the slick pavement.

"CORA!" Lewis shouted. She ignored him pushing the gas pedal further down.

The first thing she noticed in the driver side-view mirror was the blue mustang darting out after them from the alley.

"Not good. Not good. Lewis, look behind us."

He looked and quickly saw the mustang emerging from the same alley as they'd just left.

"Damnit," He hissed irritably. "He's still behind us."

"I-I can take care of them." Holly fought through her pain and the feeling of surprise she'd lost consciousness for a few moments. It was a cold that awakened her, a terrible icy chill that crept into her unconsciousness first, then her heart. She felt a wave of panic rise within her as she woke fully.

'_There's nothing to be afraid of_. _I've fought and won against the Demonhunters before. They're_ _here … now. It's _my_ job to protect Lewis and Cora from them, not them protecting me from the Demonhunters.'_

A wave of panic built, a cry rose up in her throat. She opened her mouth but her pain choked it back down. She tried to find her voice but her throat and chest constricted until she could barely breathe. The cold tightened its grip, and she shivered, her whole body trembled. It took a couple of seconds but she managed to breathe in deeply through her nose, and then let the breath out through her mouth as she pushed up to a sitting position. Some of the tension left her as she raised her trembling arm. She pointed to the '64 built mustang.

Cora glanced at her briefly in the rear-view mirror and wondered if Holly knew what it was she was doing.

Pain rippled through Holly's mind as she felt the power rushing forward but it stopped short of coming out—it had hit a barrier. Her pain and injuries kept it in check.

'_No noooo no, I've got to do this. If not for me then for Lewis and Cora; it's my fault they're in this mess. I need … the power, NOW!'_ She pushed harder, forcing the energy to splinter out in a gushing spray of wild energy—she just did manage to control enough of it as she clenched her hand into a tight fist grunting miserably with pain, "They can't chase what they can't see!" She screamed dropping her head into her hands momentarily. The blood she expected to feel rushing from her nose never came. She wiped her nose slowly but still she found no sign of blood—this stunned her. Usually, after even the slightest bit of exertion in using her talents a trickle of blood would flow down from her nose accompanied by a troubling low "popping" sound going off in her inner ears, but not this time.

Nothing adverse happened at all--she couldn't figure out what had changed in her. She could feel no headaches rising up in her from using her powers, '_Maybe the pain that I'm in is masking the headache?'_But deep down she knew better. For the first time she realized there were no adverse side effects to her using the powers given to her by the magical transformation of her body. She smiled, pleased with herself.

For a moment, Cora saw that nothing had happened to the car chasing them. She started to think Holly must have been too weak to effectively use her powers—but then it happened. The hood released popping up blinding the driver of the mustang. He swerved and crashed into a parked car; a few seconds later both vehicles exploded into a fireball.

"_Holly_?!" Lewis whispered in shock. Cora noticed Holly's eyes widen, shock and disbelief spread through them as she looked back at Lewis.

"No, it wasn't my fault. I didn't make the car explode, honest!"

Lewis turned to Cora for answers, "She …"

"She really didn't, she's telling the truth," Cora smiled wearily and spoke again before Lewis could ask his next question, "And, yes, she's a mermaid."

"You bet I am. Heather and I are the firsts and don't… neither of you two doubt it." Holly mumbled more to herself than to Lewis and Cora. A fiery fury of pain rippled through her body as she held herself.

Lewis nodded toward Holly. Relief spread across his face for a second before the fear came back to him. Cora caught the fright and looked back in the rear-view mirror. She saw the other car. It was a candy-red Porsche, and it was gaining on them fast.

"Cora, we've got to get moving." Lewis noticed Holly had closed her eyes.

"We're going as fast as we can, Lewis." Her voice was touched with exasperation and she bit her lip quietly, staring out the windshield attentively.

"It's not good enough, sweetie." He mumbled nervously, his eyes flicking back at the Porsche every few seconds.

"I can… get out and _run_ faster than this." Holly tried to joke in a weak voice, opening her eyes. A smile passed between Cora and Lewis. They both caught the look of pain in Holly's eyes.

"She's still with us." Lewis chuckled.

"Yeah, she's a strong kid. Can we keep her?" Cora giggled in response and kept driving.

"Hey, I can hear ya two from back here," Holly tried to laugh. "And I'm not a _kid_ anymore; I'm grown," a trace of seriousness touched her trembling voice, "Why won't nobody believe it?"

Lewis turned to her and grinned, "We wouldn't want it any other way, don't you worry. Just hang on and we'll get you some medical help as soon as possible."

"Lewis, can you call Ash and let him know we need him at Max's Wharf as soon as humanly possible?" Cora rushed, periodically glancing behind them to check on their pursuer. Lewis nodded and pulled out his phone, opening the cover and punching in a number. In seconds he was connected to his friend.

"Ash, buddy … sorry, no this isn't –" He paused a few seconds. "No, it's not Emma, Cora, or one of the other girls," Something was said on the other end and Lewis laughed bitterly, "You're right … but look, buddy, we've found another one. She's hurt, bad. We need—" Silence.

Cora thought she could hear Ash on the other end speaking—"Another what?"

"Another… like Emma, Cora … Rikki, Kim, and Cleo … you know, their problem with water if you get my drift." There was an uncomfortable silence in the Land Rover. Cora caught the panicky look of dread crossing into Holly's eyes. Her secret was out. They knew and it scared her deeply.

"It's okay, we're friends. We understand." Cora tried to soothe Holly's fear.

"It's just her …" Lewis stopped a second, closed his eyes as if he were thinking, and then reopened them, "I guess we should tell you, Cora believes there's a second one out there also. We haven't found her yet, but she may be in trouble as well." A momentary pause as he let Ash talk from the other end. "Yeah, we think her name maybe Heather, _Heather Faith Dangerfield,_or something close to that. Have your friends look discreetly through the names of patients whose come to the hospital in the last couple of days and let us know."

Holly's eyes widened. Cora noticed and immediately felt the girl's panic. She gave her a soft reassuring smile in the rear-view mirror.

"Just to be on the safe side, Holly."

Lewis nodded his head and looked back toward Holly, "Yes, she's conscious right now, but she's been fading in and out on us." More silence. "Uh, she was beat up in an alley by a… man." Cora gave him a brief sideways glance and turned her attention back to the road. Lewis shook her off and then his face crumbled in disguise, "No, she wasn't … I don't think." Lewis eyes looked back scanning Holly's battered body. His gaze went slow and careful making-he knew-Holly feel very uncomfortable. "Her clothes for the most part are still intact."

Holly's eyes opened even wider, "I wasn't raped," but the doubt was there in her voice. Big tears formed in her eyes. "He didn't … have the time. I wouldn't have allowed it."

Lewis blushed, embarrassed, and held the phone away from his ear. He kept quiet for a moment. Like Cora, he knew if the demon had wanted he could have taken her with little problem. "I had to ask… Ash needed the information."

"Yeah, okay, he's a doctor, right?"

"Well, he's an intern to be exact."

"Oh, great, another _peep show."_

"What?" Lewis was confused by her remark.

"It's nothing, just a joke between Heather and me. You wouldn't understand it, you're just a guy."

Cora watched as Holly pulled her torn shirt tighter around her body. The thought of ever being raped clearly disturbed her. Thick tears trickled down Holly's cheeks. She sat there thinking, patiently, trying to come up with a resolution to their troubles—then it hit her, and she allowed herself a momentary weak smile.

"It's so simple."

"What is?" Lewis stared at her.

"Let me out. They want me. If they get me… they won't pursue you two anymore."

"No." Lewis turned back around.

Cora laughed quietly at seeing the shock expression on Holly's face upon hearing Lewis's refusal of her offer. She could tell Holly was pounding over whether or not she'd heard Lewis correctly.

"No …?" the shock whisper fell from Holly's lips. '_He told me … no?'_

"You got it." Lewis replied solemnly without looking back. "Ash, call you back," and he closed the phone hurriedly.

"Guys …?" Holly whimpered.

"I said, _no_." Lewis smirked listlessly glancing over to Cora before looking back to Holly, "No means _no,_end of story. She sounds like _you_, Cora." He added with a smirk, turning back around in his seat.

"But…?"

"Hush, Holly. We're not stopping to let you out," Cora interrupted, "We're all in this together now."

Holly jumped; startled when she heard the door locks go down. She looked up, puzzled, knowing Lewis had locked the doors. Her hair had fallen over her face. She jerked her head. Her hand flipped the hair out of her line of sight. Her eyes looked puzzled. Her mouth was drawn down in an opened frown.

"Silly," she laughed humorless raising her other hand. "I can unlock and open the door with no—"

She paused as Lewis caught her wrist gently. Their eyes met. Her hand shook.

"Please, don't." Lewis said hopeful. "I don't doubt you could, but _together_ we have a better chance of standing against these _Demonhunters_ of yours than each of us facing them alone."

"B-but you two were never meant to have encountered these creatures, _especially_ Cora. She's going to die in a few--" Holly caught herself and pulled back collapsing on the seat turning away from Lewis. '_Stupid, stupid, stupid ...'_

"Holly?" Lewis's heart ached at hearing the young girl beginning to cry.

"Lewis, don't." Cora touched her husband's arm, "She's confused, alone and terrified. Everything is jumbled for her right now; we shouldn't press her for anything until Ash has seen her."

*******

**The Land Rover bucked violently for a couple of seconds** shaking everyone inside rudely. Cora had jumped the curb to make the turn. She directed the vehicle back onto the pavement heading into the cemetery to the end and onto the gravel path.

Cora had no idea how Lewis would react to her choosing the churchyard that Max Thomas was buried in; but it was the one nearest to where they had been, and if Holly had been right then this was the safest place for them to be for the next hour or two.

The violent lightning and thunder had passed. Now the storm threw all its energy into wind and rain. Cora headed toward the small church in the back screeching to an abrupt halt underneath the overhang by the side entrance. Lewis looked back toward Holly and could tell she was awake, "Are you okay?"

Holly sounded sleepy as she answered, "I'm fine. Nothing's wrong with me."

"That bad, huh?"

"Yeah," Holly mumbled. "I could run a mile if I needed to."

"In that case, we should get inside." Cora offered a brief hopeful smile before jumping out of the truck, her eyes scanning the area quickly for any sign of life. She came around the backside up to the passenger door as Lewis helped Holly to stand, "I'll heal her as much as I can once we're inside."

"N-no no," Holly stuttered, but her voice went ignored. Lewis wrapped Holly's arm around his neck and picked her up. He started up the steps toward the entrance and Cora followed.

"Hurry, I think we should get her—"A rough hand closed over Cora's mouth from behind, cutting her sentence short. She felt a cold sharpness press against the side of her throat. She had not heard anyone much less sensed anybody sneaking around. It was as if the Demonhunter had appeared out of thin air.

"Don't scream. We don't want to attract undue attention to ourselves, do we? We would hate for the _public_ to find out there's mermaids living among us wouldn't we? Imagine the chaos it would cause you and your loves ones." A rough voice growled in her ear.

Another man stepped out into the archway of the church door stopping Lewis short of entering. He held a gun pointed at his heart, "Better yet, I'll put a bullet through Mr. McCartney's heart if anyone of you three refuses to obey us."

Lewis sighed, "_Now _we know why we lost sight of the Porsche; you beat us here somehow."

***

**Holly chanced a sideward glance**. Cora was flanked by two hooded figures. One held a knife to her throat, and the other pointed a gun at Holly and Lewis. The last Demonhunter stood in front of them, blocking their path.

Holly's heart was racing, but she knew what she needed to do. She discretely buried her face in the nape of Lewis's neck.

_'Listen, but don't react to my voice.'_

Lewis's head picked up very slightly in surprise, but he suppressed it from showing on his face. Holly had not talked to him vocally, but with a psychic whisper. The sound of her voice was comforting inside his head; calm, without any hint of fright. '_I have a plan.'_

_'No, I won't put Cora's life in danger. Not _again_.' _Lewis thought firmly, hoping that Holly could read his mind.

"Move inside," said the Demonhunter with the knife. He removed the weapon from Cora's neck and pushed her forward. She stumbled, staggering a couple of steps up to Lewis and Holly. They all walked inside the entryway into the darkened foyer. It became obvious that the men had been waiting there for them to arrive—Holly began to suspect she'd been manipulated into bringing everyone here. They knew that she would suggest coming to a cemetery to wait them out.

_'No, they couldn't have known … been sure I would've …' _"Phat rat." Holly mumbled under her breath. She'd been too predictable, as Heather had predicted. She needed to start thinking outside the "box" like she'd learned to do in the Land of the Lost.

"I'm sorry, Lewis." Holly frowned, "This is my fault. I wasn't thinking straight."

"I wouldn't worry too much about it. We've been in worse situations than this..." Lewis had tried to hide the stress in his voice from her but failed miserably. The last thing any of them needed to do now was panic or loses their tempers. Clear thinking was needed.

_'Put me down, Lewis.'_ Holly ordered with her thoughts—he complied without thinking much to his surprised. Cora moved to help steady her on her feet and Holly smiled as her feet touched the concrete floor, "Thanks, girl." She whispered politely.

"So, what do you want? It's obviously not money." Lewis asked finally.

Holly's smile widened; his voice had a slight tremor but he showed no outward sign of fear. The hooded figure in front of them laughed.

"No, it's not the money we want. It's the little witch you're holding."

Holly laughed, wobbling between Lewis and Cora, "So I've moved up from being a whore to—"

"Holly, don't..." Cora cut her off gently.

Holly turned to Cora, pulling away from the hold that the older girl had on her. Her hands clenched and unclenched nervously. She had spotted an opportunity for them to escape, "It's me they want, not you two. It's still not too late for you two to get out of this."

"Holly... We're in this together, now. We won't leave you." Cora's voice was quiet but serious—Holly could tell that the older girl had looked into her eyes. Cora could tell that Holly had hatched a wild scheme of her own.

"Sorry." She mouthed to Cora. Holly smiled. Her eyes stared behind the two Demonhunters. Lewis glanced at her in panic. His eyes had caught hers and followed them to the far wall near the entrance. Holly could not hide the wisp of electricity she was pulling out of the socket from him; she could only hope Lewis would not spoil the surprise she was about to serve up to the Demons.

She could feel the invisible energy snaking around her wrists. It thickened, shrouding her hands like a wavering heated haze. Holly felt the pressure of the energy building. She sucked in a deep breath as the force took over—overwhelming her. She arched her back, stepping away from Lewis and Cora. Her arms opened wide, and her palms pointed toward the two demons.

"She's attacking!" on the shorter of the two Demonhunters facing her shouted in shock.

_'Too late_,' Holly thought.

"Oh, crap..." Lewis's look of stark terror stunned Holly and distracted her momentarily. He jumped back, pulling Cora to the floor and trying to cover her. Holly on the other hand, did two things at once. She spread her fingers and let the energy stream out of her, then concentrated and pulled the electrical force out of the wall socket.

Both of the demons were caught between both waves of her attack. They fell to the ground dispersing into black, sulfur-scented smoke—and then a shot rang out.

Cora's body tensed immediately, quickly pulling out from under her husband's hold on her. Her hand came up fast, clenching desperately in hope she wasn't too late…

***

**Lewis pushed himself to his knees** in shock, not believing his eyes. He had seen the bullet go through Holly. He watched helplessly.

Holly shrieked and fell to her knees. Her trembling hands drew to her side for a moment before pulling them away. Her eyes widened, seeing the blood that covered her hands.

"H-he _shot_ me." Holly forced a smile across her quivering lips, turning, and looking at him. He could tell she had not anticipated being shot. In the next instant she was doused with water. The demon stood above her holding a small bowl that had contained the liquid. He threw the bowl away and turned the gun back on her.

"H-he won't let you shoot me." Anger had flared in Holly's eyes. "He protected my back."

"I don't know who you are talking about, or what magic you employed to deflect my shot from your head but at _this_ range..." The man before her grinned and trailed off, cocking the weapon. Suddenly, two things happened simultaneously. Holly changed into her mermaid form, and the Demonhunter suddenly flew up and backward into the wall as if shoved with a tremendous force. He crashed down into the cabinet that held more of the water, which splashed over him. The Demonhunter screamed horribly before dissolving into smoke.

"Holy water kills every time." Holly smirked heatedly.

Lewis stood turning to his wife. She stood frozen with her arm outstretched, "Cora?" She didn't respond, and he became nervous. He tried again, "Cora?"

Lewis pulled her into an embrace, and immediately felt that she was trembling wildly, "Lewis … I didn't stop the bullet."

He pulled back, his eyes wide, "You deflected it. You had to ... there's no other explanation."

"No... I was too slow. I was supposed to _stop_ it; all I did was make it hit her somewhere else!" She pulled back, mortified and quickly stepped past him and knelt next to Holly, who was dragging herself back toward the doorway and leaving behind a trail of blood in her wake. Her eyes latched onto something unseen.

"No, don't go..." She mumbled, her hand stretched out before her, "P-please, let me thank-you before you go..."

Cora pulled Holly into her arms as quickly and gently as possible. Her left hand immediately went down to Holly's wound where the blood was the thickest. Holly struggled, trying to break Cora's hold.

"No. Don't. I've got to catch him." Holly's voice trembled uncontrollably. Lewis watched the scene with raised eyebrows; he could tell nausea sucked at Holly's gut as she tried to break Cora's hold, much like he'd seen happen when the other girls had tried to break through it. "No…"

"Catch who?" Shock registered in Cora's voice when her hands found no open bullet wound in the girl's abdomen. Her eyes darted to Lewis, "Lewis?"

He slid to a halt on the opposite side of Holly across from Cora, dumbfounded. "I saw the bullet go through her. This isn't possible..."

Cora shook her head slightly, biting her lower lip slightly, "We have to get back to the house… Call Emma, Lewis. Let them know we're on the way."

***

**Cora broke a lot of traffic laws** getting back to Max's Wharf. Emma and Rikki waited in the garage for them. The moment the truck came to a stop Emma hit the switch to close the garage doors to keep prying neighbors' eyes out —both she and Rikki had been worrying since they received Lewis's call.

He hadn't made any sense to them; rambling on about there being another mermaid and that they'd been attacked by shape-shifting demons.

There had been little conversation between her and Rikki while they waited. It was wet outside. The drizzle-glistened day had seemed unnatural and forebodingly wrong. They were tired and nervous, afraid of what was coming. Rikki stood quietly. Her eyes were closed, her head back, and her hands were clenched in fists—until she heard the truck pulled in. She opened her eyes, sighing, letting her fists relax.

'Trouble's here.' Emma saw the thought flashed through Rikki's eyes. She said nothing.  
Emma watched Cora cut off the engine and hopped out hurriedly. She ran to the back passenger door on Lewis's side without a glance to either of them. Her face was crunched deeply in concern. Lewis opened the back door allowing Cora to get in. Emma and Rikki moved closer, curious about the situation—they had seen the blood on Cora's hands.

Cora sat, cradling a young girl's head in her arms. Her long dark hair partially blocked their view from clearly seeing the facial features of the blonde girl she held tenderly.

"It's okay. We're safe. We're here at the house. I can…"

The stranger forced her tired eyes opened, stirred to awareness by Cora's touch. She tried to focus her eyes. Her face contorted, her breathing coming in short, sharp little bursts. Her hand shot out catching Cora's wrist before she laid her hand on her.

"No, don't… you don't understand." Her weak, wavering wisp of a voice tumbled out sounding confused.

"You're hurt. I can help—" Cora tried to whisper in a comfortable and gentle manner.

"No. I'm not worth the effort. I messed up. I-I …."

"Sh, you don't need to talk. Don't worry." Cora tried to reassure her.

"Heather's going to have my butt over this." Tears collected in the stranger's eyes, "I shouldn't even be here, not with you all... and definitely not here at this house."

Cora laughed, "No, no one will be messing with you if I have anything to do with it, I promise; and you had no choice in being here because we brought you here. Hush, try to relax."

Lewis turned his head to face Rikki and Emma; he too was worried, "Oh, uh, has Ash made it here yet?"

"Ash? Is he supposed to be here?"

"Yeah, but I figured he would've been here before us."

"He's not here yet, Lewis, but I'm sure he's not too far behind." Emma tried to reassure her friend.

"Yeah, you're probably right. Being as late as it is and with the traffic and all around the school he's probably just caught in traffic."

"Sure he is." Emma tried to sound convincingly turning her attention back inside the SUV where Cora was still tending to the young girl.

"But I'm not in pain anymore; I can go now." The girl pressed. Cora smirked a little but the concern never left her face.

"That's because I took it away, sweetie. You'll stay until you're well."

The stranger shook her head, "No, I've gotta leave, now."

"If you even try, I'll pour water over you."

"That's not fair." The girl's voice came out raspy and weak, "Heather's gonna be mad."

"Don't worry about her. Our concern right now is with you and your injuries."

"Cora?" Lewis's voice cut in. She looked up at her husband quickly, "We have to get her inside, upstairs, and comfortable. Ash just called, he said he should be here shortly."  
Cora nodded her head. She looked back down to the stranger she held, "I'm going to get out now and let Lewis take you in, okay?"

"C-Cora …"

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry for messing things up."

"Shh. You didn't do anything wrong." Cora eased out of the truck letting Lewis lean in. Lewis reached in and gathered the girl into his arms. He pulled her out and stepped away letting Cora shut the door—Emma and Rikki got their first clear look of their visitor. Her stomach was covered in dried blood.

Emma took a deep breath when she looked past Lewis and saw who Lewis and Cora were catering to inside the Land Rover. She shot a quick look toward Rikki--she, too, recognized the girl in Lewis's arms as the one from the airport they had encountered the other day.

"Lewis…" Rikki's voice trailed off. His look quieted her.

"I don't want to hear it, Rikki. Cora says she's okay, and that's all the convincing I need."

"B-but—"

"She's hurt badly and with the condition she's in, she won't be causing anybody any trouble even if she wanted to."

"So you say..." Rikki murmured under her breath. She glanced up and looked around as though she heard something. Lewis turned around with the girl and walked off following Cora into the house.

Emma's erratic heartbeat settled down as she got over the shock of seeing the girl. Her hands were beginning to shake and she had a feeling of shock was moving in, so she tried to think of something else.

.

"Rikki … that is the girl you confronted at the airport isn't it?"

"Yes."

"Are you positive you saw Dr. Denman with her?"

"After all the trouble that witch has caused us, you think I would forget how she looked?"

"No."

"Then there's trouble brewing and Lewis and Cora has just brought it to our doorstep."

Emma looked uneasy to Rikki, "I hope for our sake that you're wrong."

"Trouble is always just around the corner for us, Emma."

"I know, but you've been wrong before, Rikki. You were wrong about Cora, after all. Maybe this time it's different again."

"Yeah, right, when pigs can fly our troubles will be different."

Emma gave Rikki a sour look. "Do you have to always be so negative?"

"Yeah, that's my job." Rikki pushed passed her into the house. Emma followed her through the kitchen into the hallway and up to the foot of the stairs where they intended to follow Lewis and Cora upstairs when the doorbell rang. They both stopped.

"Ash… maybe?" Emma asked.

Rikki shrugged. And Emma went to the door. "Ash. C-Cleo …?"She paused seeing a third person she didn't recognize.

"Oh, this is Porter. Thomas Porter. He's my cousin from the States. The one who help assisted me with Cleo's accident two summers ago." Ash stated in a-matter-of-fact voice.

"Yeah, I was told how you forgot about our need for discretion." Emma's voice was cold. Ash stopped, his face grew red.

"He prevented the situation from getting out of hand. Without his help, things may have gotten worse. Cleo could've easily lost her life." He continued. Emma said nothing, "He has kept silent about the whole deal."

"Fine." Emma replied coolly crossing her arms in front of her. Her eyes darted a moment to Porter's, "If nobody else had a problem with it, I don't see why I should either; after all, it's the best kept secret in the world."

"Good."

"Good!" Emma snapped back.

Ash and Cleo stepped into the house followed by Thomas. Cleo shot Emma a quick look as if she understood her next unspoken question.

"Long story. I'll explain later."

Emma shook her head and closed the door, "I'm sure you will; been talking with Kim again, haven't you?"

"Yes. So, she's my sister."

"Where's the patient?" Ash asked.

"Up here, third door on the right probably," Rikki pointed upstairs from the bottom of the stairs, "It's the room we've designated as the infirmary in the event one of us was hurt, like you instructed."

Ash came around her followed by Cleo and Thomas, "Is it stocked they way I told you to?"

"Pretty much, I guess. I dunno, don't look at me. It was Cleo's responsibility to have done it." Rikki stared at him. Ash stopped and looked at Cleo questionably, and she quickly responded.

"Yes, it's stocked."

"At least I can count on you."

He went upstairs with everyone following behind. He stopped at the closed door Lewis stood by.

"Is she inside?"

"Yes." Lewis answered.

"Good. I need everyone to wait outside while I examine her. I need only Thomas, you, and Cora to be in there with me."

Lewis nodded his understanding, "Cora is already inside with her."

"Good, with her empathy skills our mermaid friend should stay calm and relaxed during the examination." He looked around, "It's going to be okay. If she's made it this far she's a tough little kid. She's a fighter. If she's been poison like Lewis thinks we'll handle it."

Lewis smirked and shook his head, patting Ash on the arm, "Uh, Ash, don't call her a kid. She's kinda touchy about it..."

*******

**Inside, Cora sat on the side of the bed**. Holly held her hand in a death-grip. "Its okay, Ash is here outside the door. He'll help you."

Holly shook her head, "I don't like doctors. They probe, take tissue samples, stick you with needles, and—"

Cora smirked and squeezed the girl's hand gently, forcing some of her panic away, "Shh, you're worse than _me_. He won't do anything more than what needs to be done, I promise. We just have to get you well."

"Please, stay with me; don't go when he comes in." She paused looking into Cora's eyes, "You're her, really her, aren't you?"

"I don't understand what you mean, Holly."

"I-I mean Heather… your eyes, they have a different color but the same look, the same soul as hers have." Cora smiled catching Holly's eyes staring pass her. She turned to the bedroom door.

Lewis stood in the doorway, smiling at them. Ash and Thomas stood in the rear. The three moved in closing the door and came over to the bed. Cora felt the bed suddenly sinking down a bit.

"Holly, this is..." Lewis's mouth dropped opened. Cora turned looking back at Holly, who sat transformed into her mermaid form.

Holly let go of Cora's hand and hugged herself against an imaginary chill, trembling, refusing to look up. She clenched her jaw, biting back a shriek of pain. Her transformation had happened against her will—"Phat rat … that freaking hurt." She reached down letting her nails dig into the sheets as she waited for the horrible shock to pass.

Cora noticed Holly's jaw quivered as the tears cascaded down her cheeks and let Holly fall into her arms. She could sense that her friend felt exposed and a little embarrassed, but… _no pain_. Silence hung heavily in the air for a few seconds, no one knowing what to say.

"I don't know what caused me to change. It hurt like hell," Holly whispered into Cora's ear before pulling back, wiping away the tears and letting Cora keep a hold of her hand.

Cora frowned slightly; she knew Holly wasn't feeling any pain - it wasn't possible. '_Holly's got to be up to something…'_She caught the puzzling look Lewis shot toward her and shook her head when he started to voice his confusion.

*******

**Holly smiled to herself**, thinking of how masterfully she was pulling off her charade. She leaned back and closed her eyes, concentrating, '_I'll show Heather how good of an actress I really am.'_

She picked up Cora's thoughts and moved carefully within her friend's mind. If Cora wasn't taking away her pain, distracted and worrying over her, Holly would've never attempted to manipulate this girl's thoughts, '_But this might be my only chance to slip in. The longer I stay the more likely things will change unfavorably in this world's timeline.'_

She hated what she was doing, but she understood that Cora would never leave her side, not even for a minute. Cora's thoughts betrayed her. She and Lewis had planned to go to Mako that night—there were important thoughts running through Cora's mind but Holly ignored them, not wanting to pry any further into the older girl's mind than she absolutely had to. She had to nudge Cora into going; it was necessary in order for her plan of escape to work. Afterwards she would influence the other three standing around her.

After what seemed like hours to her, she sighed, and pulled from Cora's mind. '_It's time to work on the others.'_

"Hello, doc… Thomas; I would get up but I don't have my legs at the moment." Holly muttered, embarrassed. She did her best to swallow her own anxiety. Her tail was a deep sapphire, fading to an emerald coloring near the fin. Dark leopard-like spots sprinkled down from her left thigh shrinking in size and fading about six inches below where her knee would have been.

Ash smiled down at her. Holly's lips tightened in something like a smile. She began the slow task of slipping into this doctor's mind.

"Wow," The sudden surprised remark fell from Thomas's mouth, "It's really beautiful."

Holly looked up, her concentration broken. Her eyes met Thomas's with annoyance. She sat there, dumbfounded, tired, and sore, she just stared at him. '_H-he liked my tail? Is he daft?'_

He stared back, "Can you change back?"

"What?" There was a bare hint of irritation in her voice.

"It's a simple question. Can you _will_ your legs back?"

"What? Me?" Holly allowed herself a long, slow smile. '_He will be next.'_ But something unexpectedly happened in her assumption; Holly reached out with her mind to his and found—_nothing. 'What? Not possible…'_

"Are you deaf or something?" Thomas pressed.

"W-What!?!"

Cora could sense the emotional change in Holly and protectively shifted a little closer to the girl. Holly became uneasy as if Thomas touched on something she didn't wish to share. Holly had forced her eyes open fully to look into his. Her mind was still just a little too hazy to remember why she ought to protest by being here.

"Hello?" Thomas waved at her.

"You're kidding, right?" Holly laughed timidly, scared. This was the first person she'd run across who she could not read or find their thoughts since her initial change.

"No, I'm not." Thomas snickered back. "Can you change at _will_?"

"You're crazy." She pushed, but his thoughts still eluded her, '_It's like my powers won't work on him, but why?'_

"Maybe." Thomas smiled broadly.

Holly's cheeks flushed with anger. She tore her eyes from Thomas looking down at her hands, '_He's blocking me somehow. Does he suspect something…?' _She shook the thought from her head, "What happened? Why did I change?"

"If you can _will_ back your legs, can you _will_ your tail to appear?" Thomas continued.

Her gaze shot back to Thomas, '_What makes you different from all the others?'_

"Thomas," Ash looked at his cousin, perturbed, "Don't push."

"What?" His eyebrows rose at the authoritative tone Ash used, "I just asked a simple, easy question."

Ash ignored him, turning his attention back to Holly, "It's because you can heal yourself better in that form," Ash sighed, "Your metabolism works significantly faster as a mermaid. Which means your cells can divide more quickly and make new cells faster. That's how you all can get over injuries so quickly, which is great."

"Which means?" Holly was afraid to ask, still refusing to look up.

Lewis spoke up then, smirking triumphantly, "You'll be stuck as a mermaid until your body heals itself enough."

"Oh, great…" Holly looked up and paused. The movement made her queasy, and a second Lewis sprang into being next to the first. Holly squinted, trying to force the phantom back into the original.

"What's wrong?" Cora asked.

"Nothing. I'm fine." Holly kept her eyes half-closed. The world was turning into a slight blur for her.

Cora turned to Ash and shook her head just a bit—enough so Holly wouldn't notice, "She's hurting." She mouthed the words.

"Holly…?" Ash began. Holly looked back at him and he continued, "It's important for you to be honest with me about all of your injuries and symptoms. I need to know the truth in order to make the right diagnosis. No lying. No 'forgetting' any details."

Holly's mouth dropped opened. She couldn't speak for the moment and Ash took the opportunity to gently press a little further.

"You're a mermaid. Very little is known about your physical make-up, much less about how you can transform. That's why I decided to study medicine; you girls deserve to have someone in your corner, but I can only do as well as you let me. Leave one thing out and it might lead me to the wrong diagnosis."

Holly's eyes glanced quickly to Cora. She tried to smile, "I-I … my head hurts."

"Good, that's a start."

*******

**Once the preliminary check-up was complete,** Ash ushered everyone out into the hallway. He left the door cracked so that he could keep an eye on his patient—Holly was tired, but she was fighting against the sleep. Turning to face his friends in the hallway, Ash could tell they all knew that his initial findings were not good.

"Ash …?" Cora's voice wavered. Confusion touched her eyes.

"Once the sedative takes hold she should sleep for several hours; maybe 'till tomorrow, I should think. She's exhausted, worried and deathly afraid of _something_ … of _what_, I can't figure out."

"But?"

Thomas shook his head, "It's not good. Her body's fighting the poison. It should've killed her--"

"But she's alive. Living. Breathing. That's good isn't it?" Rikki stated bluntly.

Ash smiled wearily looking at her, "Because she's a mermaid; or maybe that's why the toxin is trying to kill her. I'm not sure at the moment - not until I run more tests."

"Ash…?" Cora started but stopped.

"I gave her a sedative but her body's fighting it. It can't distinguish the difference between the poison and the shot."

He frowned, sensing that something was still bothering Cora.

"But there's more, right?" Cleo's voice brought him to stare at her.

"Yeah, there's more," He noticed she looked scared, "She has a few cracked ribs. Her liver is bruised and one or two other organs may be damaged as well. I won't know until I run more tests."

"And?"

Ash laughed, "You never miss a beat do you, Cora?" He paused a moment and took in a deep, weary breath, "She has a crystal stone lodged in her navel."

"So? That's the in-thing for some of the younger generation these days. They love sticking a piece of jewelry in the navel." Rikki injected.

"This isn't _jewelry_. And when I say stuck, I mean it has _attached_ itself to her - like a parasite."

*******

**A stabbing pain jolted Holly awake.** She sat up slowly, touching her forehead. A moment later she heard muffled voices out in the hallway—it was then she noticed that the door was partially open.

It hit her that everyone was outside the room like she had wanted. It gave her the opportunity she needed to escape. A smile slipped across her face. She raised her hand towards the door—then hesitated, remembering Lewis's words:

"_Together_ _we have a better chance of standing against these_ _Demonhunters_ _of yours than each of us facing them alone."_

She frowned softly and sighed to herself, '_No, Lewis. I'm sorry but I must disappear. I've already caused enough damage as it is.'_

Holly twisted her hand over slowly using her powers to close the door and popped the lock quietly into place. She turned back, sitting up, laying her hands on her tail, '_Someday I'll have to share this secret of changing with Heather_.'

Holly closed her eyes and willed her legs to reappear.

Pain. _Pain_. She fell back immediately, arching her back. The sensation deepened and she tried to block the pain. The muscle in her tail knotted and convulsed. Holly gasped and strained. Sweat broke out pouring off of her in streams before ten seconds of indescribable hell tore through every fiber of her being—then it was over. The change was completed.

Her mouth had stretched opened silently screaming during the whole transformation. She found herself on the floor on all fours trembling horribly from the strain of the change, '_Oh, God, it's not supposed to hurt when I make myself shift.'_

She looked down and found the bed-cover in her hands. It lay shredded into what seemed like a thousand pieces. Her breathing deepened and she fell to the floor straightening out her body. Agony flared from her hips down. She pulled herself across the floor. The carpet rubbed irritatingly across her skin but the pain kept building.

'_I-I'm not … changing back_.'

Holly could feel the muscles twitching, knotting; wanting desperately to make the change back into her mermaid form—but she fought it.

"No, no. Nooo." She twisted around, balancing on her hips. Her weight shifted and she fell over feeling a loud, tearing "popping" in both hips. The change took her brutally hard and everyone in the house heard the scream tear from her throat.

*******

"**It would only be for a few hours**, Cora, I promise, and I think it would be nice for both of us." Lewis stood in the hall outside of the room that Holly, now sleeping, was recovering in. Cora stood inside the room, the door open enough for her to stand in the doorway.

"I can't leave her yet, Lewis; _Look_ at her," She whispered back, nodding inside the room, "Do you know how much pain she would be in the minute I left? Poor little thing… And what if she tried to get away again? She's going to end up hurting herself worse the more she moves around."

"You've been watching her like a hawk since we got her here. Don't you think you need a break?"

"But Lewis…"

"Cleo said that she and the girls would take good care of her while we were gone, and I'm sure that if she tried anything, Rikki would be _more_ than able to stop her before she got anywhere." Lewis said, cracking a smile.

Cora's eyes bugged slightly but she yawned and smirked back, "That's reassuring," She smiled softly and let her eyes trail instinctively back to the severely injured girl in the bed behind her, "I dunno about this…"

A devious spark lit up in Lewis's eyes and Cora immediately caught it, her expression dropping. He grinned and then forced a sad expression onto his face, "Please? Because…"

"Lewis you _wouldn't_—" She pleaded.

"…It would help me so much; I'd feel so much better about this whole situation and I would be a lot less likely to do anything dangerous."

Cora groaned and clapped a hand to her forehead, "God, I _hate _this stupid gene!"

Lewis grinned triumphantly and kissed her cheek, "I know, but it's far too convenient for all of us."

"You are a mean, mean man, Mr. McCartney…" She muttered, shutting her eyes and letting her body weight shift against the door-frame, defeated, "But Holly is a smart girl – the second she finds out I won't be hovering over her she's going to want to make a run for it. What am I supposed to tell her?"

"That, Mrs. McCartney, I don't know. My job was just getting you to come with me." Lewis chuckled.

"Cora?" The weak voice came from inside the room. Cora stood up straight again and picked her head up, alert, and glanced up at Lewis. He offered her a reassuring smile and squeezed her hand.

"Go ahead."

Cora paused for a moment and thought about what Lewis had asked for a moment before responding, "…Just for a few hours, right?"

"I promise."

"Okay…" A slow smile spread onto her face and she quickly pecked her husband's cheek.

"I'll go let the girls know!" He said, and with that he turned and head off down the hall. Cora pulled back inside the room and closed the door quietly. She smiled cheerfully and returned to Holly and perched carefully at the side of the bed.

"I'm sorry Holly – did we wake you?"

"No… just dreaming I guess."

Cora smiled comfortingly, "Nothing too bad, I hope! How are you feeling?"

"Tired," Holly chuckled quietly, but ended up racking her lungs with a cough. Cora frowned worriedly and quickly clenched her fingers, opening the small fridge on the other side of the room. Glancing at it only briefly, she returned her attention to Holly and twitched her hand again, sending an athletic water bottle flying across the room towards them. Cora reached up quickly, plucking it out of the air and popped the mouthpiece, holding it out towards Holly and letting the younger mermaid take a sip of water through the straw. Holly swallowed shakily and pulled back, smiling tiredly at the older girl and setting her head back on the pillow, "Thanks. Hey… you didn't stay here all night, did you? You… you slept, right?" Her voice trembled as she spoke.

Cora said nothing, not wanting to lie to the girl but hesitated, not knowing what to say. Holly immediately picked up on the silence and her eyes opened wider, "You didn't?! You stayed in here _all night _because of me?"

Cora's immediate response was to reassure the girl that everything was fine and that there was no problem, but something made her pause. She heard something very familiar in Holly's voice; something about the worry in Holly's tone that felt all too similar to the one that Cora knew and sometimes hated about herself. Could it be that maybe, just maybe, Holly had a little Protector in her, too? She bit her lip slightly and thought; she doubted that the girl was a_complete_ Protector, having spoken about her close friend Heather repeatedly by this time gave Cora the gut feeling that together the two of them were Defenders. However, that meant there was a chance. She tilted her head slightly, glancing at Holly. If Holly had some Protector in her, then that meant… maybe Cora could manipulate her a little bit, the way everyone manipulated her? It was mean - she knew that from experience – but this date meant a lot to Lewis and it _had_ been a long time since they'd been able to have alone time. She decided to try.

"It's all right, Holly – our goal right now is to get you better no matter what it takes."

Holly bit her lip sadly and sighed, closing her eyes. She was quiet for a long moment, but took as deep a breath as she could and spoke again, "You have to let me go, Cora. You have no idea how many problems I've caused already, and it's only gonna get worse the longer I stay here."

Cora took in a deep breath and paused – here went nothing, "But Holly, you have to understand. You can't leave – we've seen some of what is going on and we can't have you out there getting hurt. You're one of us, and we need you safe. It would help us all so much; I'd feel so much better about this whole situation if you stayed put in this bed and let us take care of you until you're better. Please?" She tilted her head to the side innocently, trying to resist a smirk as she repeated the same words her husband had used to manipulate her just a few minutes prior.

Holly's face completely fell, a look of absolute bewilderment taking over. The young girl opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. She closed he mouth and glanced around as if resisting her own confusion. Finally after several moments of silence, her quiet shaky voice was heard, "Okay."

Cora beamed – it had worked! She had felt bad manipulating the girl, but it was for her own good after all. Now her mind would be able to rest a little easier during her date with Lewis.

"Thank you." Cora sighed with a smile, getting up and crossing the room to get some food for Holly's breakfast.

Holly, however, sat up in bed, stunned silent. Had… had she _really_ just agreed to that? She had. And the worst part? She knew she wouldn't go back on the promise, either.

'_Oh, phat rat.'_ She thought, shutting her eyes in frustration.

***  
**Lewis had just finished** setting up the moon pool when Cora broke the surface. She immediately found Lewis and then let her eyes dart around the cave, finding a few large flat pillows set up on the sand next to a picnic basket. She felt a slow smile spread across her face.

"I know this isn't for me, Lewis." She said softly, resting her arms on the edge of the pool behind him and smiling. He turned, surprised by the sudden voice and smirked a little.

"Of course not. It's for my _other_ wife," He grinned and Cora beamed happily and playfully flicked her fin at him, spraying him with a few drops of water before hoisting herself out of the pool. She sat on the edge and rang the excess water out of her dark hair and let it fall against her back. No sooner had she done it did she feel a warm towel wrap around her from behind and she felt her cheeks get warm, once again thanking God that blushing didn't show too well on her skin, and for the fact that it was dim in the cave aside from the lanterns that Lewis had brought. She smiled and settled against him contently, briefly letting her eyes cast to the night sky visible through the crater at the top of the moon pool. The stars were the only thing lighting the sky; this was the night of a new moon.

"You didn't have to do this, you know." She said quietly, lifting her brown eyes to meet Lewis's blue ones and playing with her locket shyly. He sat down at the edge of the pool next to her and smiled triumphantly.

"Well yeah, I know. But, I wanted to." He smirked and turned to face Cora, watching as she took a few minutes to dry off. She smiled warmly and let her eyes cast around the cave, settling on the picnic basket. She raised her eyebrows slightly in pleasant surprise.

"Lewis… Did you cook again?" She asked. Lewis blush a little and scratched his head.

"Uh. Well, about that… I tried. But I think Emma has pretty much given up on me by now, and I kind of had to take things into my own hands. If it's horrible, we can get take-away when we go home." He explained sheepishly. Cora beamed happily and leaned across and quickly kissed his cheek. It may have been a simple joy, but it was something that thrilled her nonetheless.

"Thank you so much! I'm sure it will be just perfect." She finished drying off and put the towel down on the sand gently, and within another few seconds her silvery tail disappeared and was replaced with the bathing suit and cover-up that she'd changed into before she left home. Lewis smiled at her and stood quickly, helping her up and the two of them sat comfortably on the pillows near the picnic basket. Sharing a smile, they began their meal.

-

Lewis smirked tiredly, finally relaxing after a rather crazy week. He sat back against the smooth rocky shelf in the moon pool and sighed contently, feeling the warm weight of his wife leaning against his side with her eyes closed. He sighed quietly and let his own eyes close as well; he may not have been a merman, but the water here made him feel better, too. He opened his eyes and glanced down at Cora and felt his smirk falter into a sad smile. Lewis could feel that her body was relaxed, but as for her mind… he knew she was in turmoil.

They had been trying for months on end to have a baby with no success, and the failures had Cora heartbroken. Lewis was at a loss; scientifically, biologically, there was no reason for the failures. Both of them were aware of that fact and the doctors had confirmed it. But whereas Lewis was struggling to find some sort of answer, Cora had thought she had realized what may be wrong: her being a mermaid.

Lewis sighed inaudibly and squeezed Cora slightly. He knew that her theory couldn't be the answer, but he also didn't have another explanation to try to sway her from thinking any other way. True, he was saddened by the string of "negatives" they had gotten, but he could not even begin to imagine how she was feeling – especially now that she had the wild notion in her head that the failures were her fault.

He frowned slightly and let his chin rest on top of her head and squeezed her gently again. Lewis knew it went deeper than that for Cora and he knew why, but he didn't even want to think about it at that second. He had brought her to the moon pool that night because he loved her, because he wanted her to momentarily let go of her turmoil. And, while it appeared to be working for the moment, he knew it wouldn't last.

Lewis gently planted a kiss in the middle of her now mostly dry wavy hair and let his eyes open. He felt his eyes focus on something strange out of the side of his vision, at the bottom of the pool down past Cora and lift his head slightly. There, tucked almost invisibly under the low rocks at the bottom of the pool was a strange blue stone. He cocked his head to the side curiously and pulled his arms away from around his wife and pushed himself down, sinking further into the water. Cora shifted and opened her eyes and blinked at him, concerned.

"Is everything okay?" She asked. Lewis nodded, but didn't pull his eyes away from the stone.

"Yeah… I think I see something down there, I'm just gonna grab it." He muttered quietly. Cora sat upright further, her body immediately snapping to attention and she tilted her head to the side.

"Are you sure you don't want me to get it? It might be easier; you know… the breathing underwater thing. I mean… I just mean that it's sort of deep…" She rambled, worried. Lewis pulled his eyes away from the stone and smiled warmly at her. He knew that she worried about him, and it wasn't that he didn't appreciate the offer, but not tonight.

Tonight he wanted her to forget about her tail and the problems she thought it was causing; but the second she slipped entirely under the saltwater in the pool, she would transform again. He shook his head quickly and without another word, he inhaled deeply and sunk down under the surface.

Cora leaned forward and looked down into the water, watching him carefully. Sure enough, after a few seconds Lewis's head broke the surface, and in another moment he had swum back over to where Cora remained perched at the edge of the pool. She smiled and peered down at his closed fist curiously.

"What is it?" She asked quietly. Lewis looked down at his own fist and moved to pull his hand out of the water.

"It's some kind of weird blue rock that was down there a little ways under the pool's wall…" He began, but when he opened his hand he froze, "That's strange." He raised his eyebrows and stared down at the object in his open palm. The blue stone, now out of the water, had turned crimson and shrunken to about half the size it had been just a moment ago. Lewis was still for a moment, but then his eyebrows furrowed in thought.

He dipped his hand back under water and the two of them watched as the stone immediately appeared blue and much larger. He pulled the rock up out of the water and once more it had shrunken and appeared red against Lewis's hand. Cora caught on as well and blinked down at it in awe.

"Wow. I know these moon pools are magic, but… wow, I've _never_ seen anything _like_ that!" She mumbled in quiet astonishment. Lewis looked up at her and felt a slow content smile spread across his face when he saw the childlike enthusiasm in her eyes. This night was the happiest he had seen her in a few days, and it made him so happy. He smirked and reached for her hand gently, pulling it out and putting the stone in her hand.

"It's yours, now." He said, closing her fingers around it. Cora's head perked up attentively and she looked down at him in surprise.

"…Really? You don't want to run any tests on it?" She asked quickly, her voice slightly excited. Lewis smiled wider and shook his head. He hoisted himself up and returned to his seat next to her in the water.

"Nope, no tests. It's yours." He replied, grinning contently as he held onto her again. Cora turned to face him and beamed happily.

"Thank you!" She giggled quietly, amused by her own enthusiasm and wound her arms around his shoulders and kissed him gently before pulling away carefully, turning to place the strange stone over by the rest of their belongings.

Lewis watched her quietly and felt a warm smile grow on his face. Seeing her happy made him happy, and he was glad that she had been able to finally relax. He sighed inaudibly; he knew Cora felt like she was failing him no matter how many times he told her she wasn't. She never had, and after four years of being with her in which there seemed to be endless tests that tried to pull them apart, Lewis was certain of one thing: he never wanted anyone else. He felt his lips twitch up into a smirk as he watched her messily pull her dark hair down and let it fall across her shoulders and upper arms. To Lewis, she was absolutely beautiful outside and in. He wanted more than anything for her to just be happy, like she deserved.

As she turned back around, Lewis felt his still-wet hand reach out to affectionately cup the side of her face. His smirk pulled into a devious smile and he watched as Cora's signature shy grin curve onto her face, and he chuckled quietly. In another moment she had slipped off of her seat on the edge of the moon pool and moved in front of Lewis quietly, half standing and half floating in the water, level with him as he sat. The familiar warmth flooded her cheeks as she safely wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him again. Lewis smiled through their kiss and affectionately pulled his wife up into his lap, resting his hands on her hips and tugging gently on the strings on either side of her swimsuit bottoms. They would have a child when the time was right. But until that time came, there was no harm in having fun _trying_…

…But what neither of them noticed was the soft supernatural glow that suddenly though covertly shimmered through the water surrounding them.


End file.
